THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 39 



ungenteel propensities. No sooner did a public 

 house come in view than he would rush up to the 

 door, in defiance of whip and rein, and persist in 

 remaining there a reasonable drinking time, thereby 

 exposing the reputation of his mistresses to very 

 shocking surmises. It afterwards came out that he 

 had learned these ways of a jolly old farmer in whose 

 possession he had been for some years. 



There is a story told of a famous trotter belonging 

 to a butcher, which attracted the admiration of a 

 gentleman by its splendid action, and was bought by 

 him at a very high price. But no long time elapsed 

 before the purchaser came to the conclusion that he 

 had been taken in ; the horse was decidedly a dull, 

 lazy brute ; it was all over with his fine trotting ; and 

 the butcher who sold him was, no doubt, aware that 

 the animal labored under some unsoundness that 

 destroyed his former high qualities. The gentleman 

 took the horse to its former owner, and indignantly 

 denounced the fraud that had been practised upon' 

 him. The butcher listened in silence to the stormy 

 harangue, and then turning to one of his men, who 

 was leaving the shop with a tray of meat on his 

 shoulder, he said to him, " Here, Dick, jump up, just 

 as you are, and let us see if the horse can't trot a bit." 

 The man did so, and off started the horse in the very 

 best style. The gentleman was amazed and con- 

 founded : "I can never make him go like that !" he 



