10 RACE-HORSES NOT RUINOUS ;- 



out the means : so will race-horses. If a man ruins 

 himself by either keeping the one or the other, it is 

 his own fault: he does it gradually, with his eyes 

 open, and is, therefore, that sort of simple young gen- 

 tleman, who, if he did not do it by these means, would 

 be sure to do it by some other. We might as well 

 say a bottle of wine a day is sure ruin, because it 

 would be so to a merchant's clerk at 70/. a year salary. 

 We might as well suppose a man was certain to 

 be ruined should we see a pack of cards or a back- 

 gammon box and dice in his house, because many 

 have ruined themselves by an improper use of either, 

 or both. Even here I will allow a man to play with 

 either every day, and play for high stakes if he pleases. 

 Provided he always plays for about the same stakes, 

 plays with gentlemen, not Legs, and NEVER BETS, he 

 will find at the year's end that (supposing, of course, 

 he has played with common judgment) he has neither 

 won nor lost enough to materially affect his finances. 

 So it is with race-horses. Let a man keep two or 

 half-a-dozen, according to his income : let him buy 

 his horses with judgment, place them in proper hands, 

 and also enter them properly according to their quali- 

 fications in proper Stakes, and never bet on them or on 

 any other person's, and he will never be ruined by 

 race-horses. Let him, however, bear in mind, that I 

 warn him he must lay by 500/. or 1000/. a year of his 

 income, according to the number he keeps, for their 

 expenses and his amusement. The whole of this may 

 not be called for : it is within the bounds of possibility 

 they may pay their expenses one with another, and 

 one year with another ; but he must not calculate on 

 this. If, therefore, he cannot afford to pay so much 

 a year, he has no business to keep race-horses : if he 



