ABOUT BUYING A HORSE. 129 



This the sniffing Ostler attributes to the bit, " which," he 

 says, " don't give no freedom to the mouth." 



I can't help remarking that this stumping with his near 

 fore-leg suggests lameness. 



" Lame ! not him, Sir ; it's only at startin' agen as he does 

 it," replies the Ostler ; and then makes a new noise, some- 

 thing between a sniff and a chirrup, which is evidently 

 recognised by the horse as a sound of encouragement, as he, 

 in sporting phrase, " pulls himself together," — he is rather in 

 pieces with detached legs acting on their own account, like 

 those of his owner, Jarvis, — and goes along as though he 

 had never known what stumping meant. 



Happy Thought. — "Stumping the countr}^," — another idea 

 for a sign-board, — " The Horse and Speaker^'' or " ^Orse and 

 Orator:' 



I don't think he'll do. On returning I find Trott the 

 vet, who has come over with a horse. Gloppin himself 

 looks in. 



Trotfs Horse. — " Gay, light-hearted, carries his head 

 well," and his tail, too, for the matter of that ; in fact, his 

 tail is more effective than his head, as he has a way of 

 flourishing the former round and round triumphantly, with a 

 kind of Catherine-wheel effect. 



Disadvantages of Trott's horse, — He (the horse) is nearly 

 sixteen hands, which I find an obstacle in mounting. I 

 don't get on very easily, and it occurs to me that it is a 

 nasty height to fall. 



Advantages.— Ylt is " showy," and, what Trott calls, a 



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