222 THE HORSE. 



the slapping black gelding, who has made such splendid con- 

 tests with Flora Temple, trots now nnder a different name from 

 that Avhich he claimed in 1853 ; before that he is known to liave 

 had one or two aliases. He was at the first called Black Dan — 

 which one wonld suppose was a good enough name for any- 

 horse, man, or snob — but one of the last was found, who, I sup- 

 pose, incapable of discerning the man through the fogs of filthy 

 politics, not content with the title of the greatest statesman and 

 man of his day, changed it to the two-penny bye-word Know- 

 Nothing. 



Leaving his name out of the question, however, which is no 

 business of mine — and to which I have only alluded in order to 

 explain my inability to fix this year as the first, second, third, 

 fourth, or any other given number, of his performance, he is a 

 right good horse. His name was last year Lancet, perhaps next 

 year it will be Gouge, or Chisel, there's no saying ! 



Know-Kothing, then, in 1854 trotted seven or eight times ; 

 for I have some doubts whether the same horse has not run and 

 won under yet other names on other courses. 



All his other trots were made at Boston, and in them he 

 beat the Black Hawk maid four times, and Blue Morgan once. 

 These were well-tried, good horses, but slow as the times go, of 

 the Morgan stock, rarely getting below the 40s., or the top of 

 the 30s. His best time in any of these matches was 2.36 ; 

 2.36 ; 2.37 ; which is nothing to brag of. He was beaten twice 

 by Mac, and put him up to 2.35 ; 2.32, and 2.38 ; 2.34, to win ; 

 so that he rather gained than lost by his defeats. 



Black Dan, Know-Nothing, or Lancet, as he is to be hence- 

 forth called, was got by the Bridport, or Hill's Black Hawk, 

 commonly known as Vermont Black Hawk, in order to distin- 

 guished him from Long Island Black Hawk, the son of Bashaw. 

 Hill's Black Hawk was by Sherman, son of the Justin Morgan, 

 out of an English mare, reported to be half-bred. Lancet's 

 dam is " Old Squaw " — a mare said to have some English blood, 

 and supposed to be got by an imported horse called Lee Boo, in 

 Canada. 



The other great event of this year, however, was the debut 

 of the magnificent pacing mare Pocahontas, one of the most 

 sujierb, and, to use a word well applied by a eulogist to that 



