•2Wi THE inxTixc; fij:li) 



Codshead is always " wanting a horse." There are a good 

 man}' men of this sort in the world, men who are always on 

 the look out, but who t/cvfr buy. In introducing Captain 

 Shabbyhounde to our readers in a former chapter, we com- 

 mented upon the " I'll sell you a horse " figure of speech some- 

 times adopted by 3-oung men, or would-be great sportsmen, and 

 knowing ones, and the " Do you know of a horse that \vill suit 

 me ? " is the corresponding figure of speech for the other end 

 of life — adopted either b}' desperately cautious men, or men 

 who just ask the question because they think it is fine to ask 

 about a horse, or from want of something to say. It seems an 

 absurd sort of question- — for how are we to know what will suit 

 another man. Half the people in this world don"t know what 

 will suit themselves A quick tailor or bootmaker, they say, 

 will measure a man with his eye, and perhaps a horse-dealer 

 may have the same knack at guessing what will suit a customer ; 

 but the generality of people who are bored with the " do you 

 know of a horse that will suit me ? " question have no such 

 ability. To be sure, if one sees a great pudding-headed, snuffy- 

 nosed, wabbling-gutted fellow stumping about, we may say 

 " that man's only fit for a cob, or for water carriage ; " but the 

 bulk of horse-wanters have no particularising mark, no charac- 

 teristic, or indicating symptoms. It is onlvin the hunting field 

 that riders can be classed. There one can say, such and such 

 a horse will suit such and such a man ; because we see what 

 both can do, as well as what both " can't do," or won't try 

 to do. 



If you were to show Colonel Codshead a hundred and fifty- 

 horses he would pick a hole in each. Indeed people are tired 

 of showing him them, and to say that you know a man who 

 wants a horse, and named Colonel Codshead, is enough to 

 provoke a smile on the face of the owner. Young Tom Rapid, 

 who is always in a hurry, having nothing whatever to do, 

 always greets our hero with, " Well, Cod, how are you ? " 



