56 PBECEPT AND PEACTICE. 



sure that, take them as a stud, they would make no 

 figure in a heavy-holding one, with strong fences to 

 encounter — in fact, we may be pretty sure that, take 

 them as a number of horses, they would not be the 

 sort J and vice versa, if coming from a heavy country, 

 they would not, as a whole, be suited to a flying 

 one. 



Here judgment, reflection, and tact come in. I 

 get hold of the head-groom in charge of the horses 

 (having first taken care that the head groom at 

 Tattersall's has apprised the other that I am not one"' 

 to ask a number of questions), get the information I 

 want, and also get a horse that is likely to suit me, 

 and think this well paid for by half-a-crown. Possi- 

 bly the one groom, in speaking of me to the other, 

 may do so in terms something like these ; 



•* He is a friend of mine, a dev'lish good fellow. 

 I knew him when I was hunting-groom to Lord 



Pretty famihar, many would say ; but reflection 

 will convince the very thin-skinned that no imperti- 

 nence is meant. The one groom would know that 



