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I have occasionally met with young gentlemen, 

 {very young,) who affect to prefer " a brute with 

 a queer temper," because he will " do most work." 

 These pinafore riders "never find the horse too 

 much for them,'' — " He goes very quietly with 

 mer a peculiar emphasis being carelessly as it 

 were lent to the pronoun, as if less by way of 

 marking the skill of the rider, than the oddity 

 of the horse. When I hear this, I set it down 

 as of course, that the speaker has never been on 

 horseback a second time in his life, or at all 

 events, never mounted a second horse. It is digress- 

 ing a little from the subject, but I cannot resist 

 the temptation of mentioning an adventure I had 

 a iew years since with a jackanapes of this de- 

 scription. He overtook me one afternoon riding 

 home from the city ; he was mounted on a good 

 mare, but with vice legibly written on her face. 

 He was obviously uncomfortable, and I advised 

 him to dismount. " O no ! never liked a horse 

 I better ; she is rather queer to be sure, but I am 

 riding her into order for a friend who finds her too 

 much for him." I was not his nurse, so I said no 

 more. Presently he dropped his stick ; I offered 

 to hold the mare while he recovered it, but I found 

 that he dared not dismount; he could not be as- 

 sured of reseating; himself I I foresaw the catas- 



