jO INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



in thofe authors. He adopts their very ideas, 

 upon almoit all occafions; nay even the great- 

 er part of his witticifms are derived from the 

 fame fource, without even excepting the fugar 

 fops, which he has chewed after Gibfon. 

 Horfemanflrip he leaves to Hughes and An- 

 gelo : the fhape and make of Horfes to fportf- 

 men; and the art of fhoeing to the operative 

 farrier. 



Refpecling the original information con- 

 tained in Mr. Taplin's fecond volume, he is 

 perfectly welcome to all the reputation he may 

 be able to obtain from that fource: fuch 

 knowledge is undoubtedly his own, fmce he 

 choofes to claim it ; and has long been the 

 common property of every body elfe. On 

 hunting (his forte) he has made a. number of 

 ufeful remarks, but fo trite, that they are at the 

 finger's ends of every gentleman's groom, who 

 has attended his matter in the field a couple of 

 feafons — on breeding Horfes, he has not given 

 us a tittle of information, good or bad, which 

 might not have been purchafcd cheaper of anv 

 farmer's carter; and on racing and the turf, he 

 has faid enough to excite the mirth of every 

 fportfman, and to convince him that, there, 

 Mr. Taplin was really not at home. 



Mr. Taplin's general method is, to make 

 huge complaints of " empyrical practice, dan- 

 gerous experiment" and the lamentable igno- 

 rance 



