RESTIFNESS. 333 



Stance of similar subjugating^ talent is to be found on record. As far 

 as the sphere of his control extended, the boast of veni, vldi, vic-U 

 was more justly claimed by Sullivan than by Csesar himself. 



' How his art was acquired, and in what it consisted, is likely to be for 

 ever unknown, as he has lately (about 1810) left the world without 

 divulging it. His son, who follows the same trade, possesses but a small 

 portion of the art, having either never learned the true secret, or being 

 incapable of patting it into practice. The wonder of his skill consisted in 

 the celerity of the operation, which was performed in privacy without any 

 apparent means of coercion. Every description of horse, or even mule, 

 whether previously broken or unhandled, whatever their peculiar habits 

 or vices might have been, submitted without show of resistance to the 

 magical influence of his art, and in the short space of half an hour became 

 gentle and tractable. This effect, though instantaneously produced, was 

 generally durable. Though more submissive to him than to others, they 

 seemed to have acquired a docility unknown before. 



' When sent for to tame a vicious beast, for which he was either paid 

 according to the distance, or generally two or three guineas, he directed 

 the stable, in which he and the object of the experiment were, to be shut, 

 with orders not to open the door until a signal was given. After a tete- 

 a-tete of about half an hour, during which little or no bustle was heard, 

 the signal was made, and, upon opening the door, the horse appeared lying 

 down, and the man by his side, playing with him like a child with a puppy doo\ 

 From that time he was found perfectly willing to submit to any discipline 

 — however repugnant to his nature before.' * I once,' continues Mr. Town- 

 send, ' saw his skill tried on a horse, which could never before be brouo-ht 

 to stand for a smith to shoe him. The day after Sullivan's half hour's 

 lecture, I went, not without some incredulity, to the smith's shop, v/ith many 

 other curious spectators, where we were eye-witnesses of the complete 

 success of his art. This, too, had been a troop horse, and it was sup- 

 posed, not without reason, that after regimental discipline had failed, no 

 other would be found availing. I observed that the animal appeared ter- 

 rified whenever Sulhvan either spoke or looked at him ; how that 

 extraordinary ascendancy could have been obtained, is difficult to con- 

 jecture. 



' In common cases this mysterious preparation was unnecessary. He 

 seemed to possess an instinctive power of inspiring awe, the result, per- 

 haps, of natural intrepidity, in which, I believe, a great part of his art 

 consisted ; though the circumstance of the tete-a-tete shows that, on par- 

 ticular occasions, something more must have been added to it. A faculty 

 like this would in some hands have made a fortune, and I understand that 

 great offers were made to him, for the exercise of his art abroad. But 

 hunting was his passion. He lived at home in the style most agreeable 

 to his disposition, and nothing could induce him to quit Duhallow and the 

 fox hounds.' ' 



Mr. Castley witnessed the total failure of the younger Sullivan. He 

 says, * We have in the regiment a remarkably nice horse, called Lancer, 

 that has always been very difficult to shoe, but seven or eight years avo-o, 

 when we first got him, he was downright vicious in that respect. When 

 the regiment was stationed at Cork, the farrier-major sought out the pre- 

 sent Sullivan, the son of the celebrated Whisperer, and brought him up to 

 the barracks in order to try his hand upon Lancer, and make him more 

 peaceable to shoe ; but I must say this person did not appear to possess 

 any particular controlling power over the animal, more than any other 

 man. Lancer seemed to pay no attention whatever to his charm, and, at 



