^tJECHASlNG H0ESE3. 1/3 



but whicli I expect you to say I must put up with, 

 not intending to give long prices." 



" Allow me to ask you two questions, to each of 

 which I anticipate the same answer. Did you ever 

 ride a steeple-chase, or have you ever been on the back 

 of a steeple-chase horse on any occasion ? I will 

 conclude the question answered. Now I have done 

 both (though I never rode in a public steeple-chase 

 at a recognised place for such sports), and have seen 

 a good deal of it — both in England and Ireland, 

 Now steeple-chase horses, if of a superior class, and 

 sound enough for the purpose, will bring their six or 

 seven hundred, even supposing in point of look they 

 might be ill-looking enough to cause them not to be 

 worth twenty pounds, wanting their pecuhar qualifi- 

 cations." 



"Pardon my interrupting ; but you said, * if they 

 were sound enough for the purpose.' What did 

 you mean by that ?" 



*' I meant there are particular kinds of unsound- 

 ness that would very little (if at all) interfere with 

 the attributes of a steeple-chase horse, and having 



