234 GETTING OUT. 



guineas. He was no sooner knocked down to me 

 than I felt I had done wrong. Several others of the 

 same stud were sold at far higher prices, not one of 

 which could any way be compared to him as to looks, 

 size, or breeding : in short, I felt certain he was too 

 cheap to be good. A couple of guineas to the head- 

 groom produced no explanation but that he was 

 a very good horse, the fastest in the stud, and the 

 biggest jumper in Lincolnshire. I hunted him ; 

 found him fast enough to go at his ease up to any 

 hounds with any scent ; nothing too big for him to 

 take in his stride, and a mistake seemed impossible, so 

 it was at any thing he chose to try : but he seemed 

 to think it quite beneath his dignity to jump at any 

 ordinary fence ; and I should say, during three times 

 I rode him with hounds, he was on his nose with me 

 twenty times. He had another pleasing propensity : 

 if there were twenty little water-drains in the field, I 

 would back him to put his foot into every one of 

 them. I was lucky enough, however, to find a farmer 

 who piqued himself on being the boldest rider in 

 the country where I was hunting, and had on more 

 than one occasion pounded the whole Field. It 

 struck me the widest jumper in all Lincolnshire and 

 my dauntless friend the farmer would be well 

 matched : it ended in my allowing him to try " Lin- 

 coln" at a brook that had been considered in the hunt 

 as impassable without a boat or taking a cold bath. 

 The price was agreed upon if the horse did it : he 

 took it and to spare. I drew 50/., taking in exchange 

 decidedly one of the cleverest hunters I ever had, 

 and eventually sold him at a hundred and fifty when 

 fourteen years old. 



From these two little anecdotes it will be seen how 



