THE GOLDEN FLEECE. Ill 



power^ rode pleasantly^ and^ so far as liis load of 

 flesh would admits went well. To carry such 

 men as Mr. Conyers, or even John Ward^ riding 

 to see their hounds hunt, and not other persons^ 

 horses go, he might have done. I must not 

 allow my friend to be laughed at for buying such 

 a huge mass of obesity ; I have seen persons who 

 could not plead his total inexperience in hunters, 

 commit as great errors. 



" Finis coronat opus/^ we have read ; but 

 " Equus coronat opus " is a new reading, though 

 appropriate in allusion. I put my fat friend into 

 a gallop, and at the hurdles over he went, trying 

 their strength with his hind legs, meaning perhaps 

 to act upon this in case he came back, to save 

 unnecessary exertion. Guessing at my customer's 

 propensity, I roused him as far as I could before 

 nearing the fence, and giving him a lift, he got 

 his fore parts well up and half over ; but, instead 

 of bringing his hind ones up also to good footing, 

 they slid back, and there he hung on the crov/n 

 of the bank, like the golden fleece. I got off"; 

 and I suppose he found the thorns a little un- 

 pleasant as a stomach comforter, for he rolled 

 about like a ship in a short sea, and succeeded in 

 sliding back into the ditch. My friend and his 

 servant coming up, we got him out and sent him 

 in. 



" Pray/' said I, " am I to understand that you 



