PURCHASING HOESES. 179 



hausting leaps ; but we frequently have a burst with 

 hounds longer than this, and we should not much 

 admire a hunter who would come to a standstill soon 

 after he had carried us four miles. I do not mean 

 to insinuate that the steeple-chase horse would do 

 this ; the probability is that he would not. I only 

 mean to say, in answer to your idea that steeple-chase 

 horses must be good animals, that their going four 

 miles in a quick time is not irrefragable proof that 

 they would be good hunters in a long distressing run 

 with foxhounds. Making what we will admit to be 

 wonderful exertion for four miles, and for the brief 

 space of at most a quarter of an hour, is quite a 

 distinct attribute from the endurance wanted in the 

 hunter for the long distances, and prolonged time. 

 A burst from some of the gorse covers in Leicester- 

 shire, though not altogether as fast as a steeple-chase, 

 approaches so near it at times, that if four mdes found 

 out the soft place in a steeple-chase horse, depend 

 on it five in a flying county would find it out also ; 

 and you are to recollect that, provided he had won 



his race of four miles, his owner would not care one 



N 2 



