ijACU-HOBSEs.] MODEEN VETEEINAEY PEACTICE. [nACE-uousES. 



fine-looking chestnut horse, hired, I believe, 

 from Mr. Dodsworth. He is light topped, 

 with a good deal of the character of Actajon 

 ;ibout him : his frame is beautifully moulded ; 

 his legs, which have tasted the iron all round, 

 well under him ; fine withered, deep gaskined, 

 with thighs and quarters quite perfect. He 

 is short in the pastern, a quality pronounced, 

 by most men, as demanding praise, but as 

 little esteemed by me as its opposite, long. 



" lu the post of honour, the dwelling nearest 

 lo himself, Tyler introduced me to the steed 

 whose own performances, and those of his 

 descendants, place him without any parallel 

 in the annals of British racing — Emilius, 

 by Orville, out of Emilius, by Stamford, 

 grandam by Whiskey, out of Grey Dinmont. 

 ' And this,' said I, * is Emilius !' as a rough- 

 coated animal, with an eye like a star, came 

 snorting up to me. He was quite €?i deslia- 

 hille to receive company, as it was evident 

 he bad been recently indulging in a roll 

 among the mire of his exercise-paddock. The 

 moment I laid my hand upon his shoulder, he 

 stood still, looked complacently upon me, and, 

 notwithstanding his having been surprised a 

 little mal-apropos, accorded me a reception 

 quite in keeping with his acknowledged liigli 

 breeding. Taking this horse as the standard 

 of perfection of the English blood-horse of the 

 nineteenth century, I will state, as well as I 

 can, the i-esult of a very careful examination 

 of him, and thence draw such inferences as 

 are relevant to my present purpose. He was 

 then in his sixteenth year; and his height 

 over fifteen hands two inches. In colour he 

 was a rich blood-bay (when in his spring 

 form), with four black legs. He was all 

 over sound, and without blemish, save in his 

 ofi" fore leg, with which there seemed to have 

 been something amiss below the knee. Pro- 

 bably the most skilful anatomist would fail in 

 discovering one point of his symmetry faulty. 

 This latter phrase may require explanation: 

 what I mean by it is, that although his frame 

 should be pronounced perfect, as it was ; that 

 in its symmetry, the harmony of each part 

 with the whole, the fitness and relation of 

 every point for its assigned function, defied 

 criticism. You saw before you a form moulded, 

 for speed and strength, as the imagination of 

 the most experienced painter would pourtray 



it. We know that he was swift and strong- 

 let us see if his physical development agreed 

 with the idea ailixed by the eye for power. 



" ' Tyler,' I inquired, * have you a morsel 

 of string ? Never mind,' seeing that he was 

 going to procure it for me at his house. I 

 removed my watch-guard. 



" 'Ah !' said he, seeing the use to which I 

 was about to apply it, * you are going to mea- 

 sure his leg I see : well, I have not seen sucli 

 a thing done since the time that his royal 

 highness the Duke of York was staying at 

 Eiddlesworth. The duke, I remember, came 

 one morning, and took the size of Merlin's 

 near fore-leg just under the knee, and its 

 circumference was full nine inches and a 

 quarter. Now, sir, I like Emilius's leg much 

 the best : it is shaped, as I call it, like a fiddle, 

 with the strings sfandiiig well out from it, the 

 way that a horse's muscle and sinew should 

 do.' 



" Having carefully taken my measurement 

 of his near leg, I entered it in one of the 

 leaves of my pocket-book. It is now before me, 

 ,.iid gives the circumference at exactly eight 

 inches and a-half. This was a little less 

 than the measurement of the ofi:'-leg. I need 

 hardly remark, that the apparent advantage on 

 Merlin's side is easily explained, if his limb 

 was rounder, and consequently less oval than 

 that of Emilius. This would give him, how- 

 ever, no actual superiority, the shape of the 

 bone and sinew of a horse's leg being an oval — 

 shallower, of course, as it extends from bone 

 to niuscle. For this horse, I was given to 

 understand, Mr. Thornhill refused eight thou- 

 sand pounds. 



"Nothing could be more characteristically 

 English than the establishment at Eiddles- 

 worth. Tyler, the stud-groom, was an honest, 

 obliging yeoman, with his mind on a level 

 with his calling. The stock which he pro- 

 duced and reared during a long period of 

 superintendence and care, was the best evi- 

 dence of his fitness for such occupation. I 

 spent a few minutes in his cottage, and it was 

 just the head-quarters in which I should have 

 expected to find him. Everything was ycrupu- 

 lously neat ; all the comforts that his condi- 

 tion could require, were there in abundance ; 

 and the elegancies were in perfect accordance. 

 The walls were decorated with the inodt cele- 



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