354 ROYAL SAUCE. 



form of, perhaps, the generality of horses, he would 

 have to be worked and sweated to an extreme that 

 would render him stale on his legs, stale in himself, 

 weakened in powers, and dispirited and debilitated in 

 constitution. It would, no doubt, with such a horse 

 be very desirable, for the sake of his legs alone, to 

 get fifty pounds' weight of flesh off ; but if this were 

 done at an expense of the loss of a hundred in point 

 of stamina or soundness, the change would be fatal. 

 How far to go, and no farther, is the nice point ; as 

 Peter Harvey said of his sauce. 



I remember the following trait of the above worthy 

 host of the Black Dog, at Bedfont, though I was a 

 mere child at the time He had brought in a dish of 

 his Maintenon cutlets. A gentleman at table took 

 up a bottle of the Harvey's sauce ; mine host rushed 

 across the room and absolutely snatched the bottle 

 from the guest's hand. " Pardon me, Sir," said 

 Harvey. " His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales 

 (whose refined taste no one doubts) once said that 

 1 my Maintenon cutlets, with my sauce, added by 

 myself, were fit for the gods.' But so exquisite is its 

 flavour, that a single drop too much or too little 

 would spoil its effects." Of course, Mr. Harvey was 

 allowed to officiate for both of us; so I conclude 

 that for once in my life I partook of the veritable 

 ambrosia. 



The man who can apportion the work of a race- 

 horse with the precision Mr. Harvey did his sauce, is 

 the ne plus ultra of a trainer. A good many, I sus- 

 pect, do not cook their horses quite so well. 



There are different opinions as to the advantages 

 and disadvantages of sending horses to public train- 

 ing stables. I will not venture an opinion on a 



