172 BLOOD, LIKE " TIME, WORKS WONDERS." 



en papillotes with overall worsted stockings, any- 

 thing like a thorough-bred horse as a hunter was 

 never even thought of; and indeed until within the 

 last twenty years the hunter and the race-horse were 

 considered as distinct from each other as two va- 

 luable animals of the same species could well be. In 

 fact, in those days I need go no farther back than 

 fifty years the qualities of the thorough-bred horse 

 were not called for in the hunter, at least they were 

 not indispensable, as they now are ; but such is my 

 predilection in favour of blood, that though hounds 

 did not go the pace fifty years since they do now, I 

 feel satisfied that at the pace they did then go our 

 ancestors would have been much better carried by 

 highly bred horses than they were by the kind of 

 horse they then rode. If hounds went fast, the 

 nearly or quite thorough-bred one could do the thing ; 

 if they did not, he would have carried them with the 

 greater ease. I am quite aware it would be very 

 difficult indeed to get thorough-bred ones equal to 

 some men's weight. If a man is only fit to be moved 

 on a timber-carriage, he must judge for himself; but 

 I really think any moderate weight may, if he selects 

 them properly, and gives money enough, find horses 

 all but, if not quite, thorough-bred that can carry 

 him. In proof of what blood will do, I will mention 

 one instance, and, as it occurred with a horse of my 

 own, I can vouch for its authenticity. 



A friend of mine, who was an honest sixteen stone 

 in his saddle, had sent his hunter to my house to 

 hunt the next day, and came himself by coach, I 

 engaging to lend him a hack to ride to covert. I had 

 just bought a very neat thorough-bred horse that 

 had been running as a four-year-old ; him I had 



