AND THE TURF, . I97 



ledge of the nature and management of fporting 

 hoiTes, inftead of that fuperficial and fecond- 

 hand kind, which -is acquired by rote from the 

 crude opinions and mere habitual praftice of 

 unrefle61ing grooms ; a true fportfman ought 

 to be able to fee with his own eyes, and not to 

 require the magic lantern of his fervant's opi- 

 nions, which, ten to one, but he finds at laft to 

 be nothing more than a Will-o'-the-Wifp, or 

 ignis fatuus. I have often made myfelf merry 

 at the ridiculous diftrefs of matters, when thefe 

 fac totum fervants, well knowing their confe- 

 quence, have turned infolent, and threatened to 

 abandon their places. 



In the choice of bred cattle, if tried ones be 

 the obje6t, (and that perhaps is the fafeft courfe, 

 where the price is not exorbitant) the chief 

 confideration is, that they be not injured by 

 labour; if young and untried, (hape and fize 

 ought to be the only rule to determine a pur- 

 chafer ; the fame rule ought to be our invariable 

 guide, in the choice of the ftallion and mare. 

 Nothing furely can be more abfurd than to 

 chufe a race-horfe with indifferent or improper 

 {hape for a6lion, merely on the confideration 

 of favourite blood, fmce opinions on that head 

 are fo variable, and even determinable by 

 falhion ; and fmce we have fo many examples 

 before our eyes, of full brothers, one of which 

 ihall be a capital racer, from his fupericr (iiape 



and 



