THE HORSE. 115 



sinews, as to be without the pale of stable remedy, 

 and with no other hope, than to be new made and 

 born again of their foster mother, the cool earth, and 

 through the bracing and consolidating influence of a 

 winter's atmosphere. But here, caveat doctor, for it 

 was too much the custom formerly, for persons to 

 advertise straw yards for wintering horses at a low 

 price, where they were so low kept and exposed to all 

 the inclemencies of the season, that in however good 

 condition when sent, they returned in the spring, 

 emaciated and in the state of doo-horses. This was 

 the case, a most shameful one indeed, with Bishop's 

 famous old trotting mare, which died in the stables 

 the day after her being taken up ; and I recollect an 

 action brought on the similar case of a pair of coach 

 horses, nearly starved to death in the same way. 

 Nothing can be more unthinking and cruel, than to 

 turn off a poor worked and disabled horse, accus- 

 tomed to warm stabling and solid meat, forcing him 

 to encounter starvation amid all the rigours of winter, 

 without shelter or comfort, more especially if aged 

 and with teeth not at all calculated for the mastica- 

 tion of straw; there are, however, always proper 

 places of this kind, within ten or twenty miles of 

 London, generally advertised, in which horses may be 

 safely confided, dependent on their owners' inspection 

 or necessary inquiries. 



I always preferred parks as most, secure, and 

 where the supply of hay and grass is most certain * 

 and whilst I resided in Surrey, I have had horses 

 up from Bushey Park, after a winter's run, in good 

 flesh and with a sleek coat ; but I did not turn 



