ADVANTAGE OF BREEDING TINE STOCK. 35 



such beasts much above their mark ; and then, as 

 if the circumstance, like charity, covers many sins, 

 they tell you " they bred them." So you see 

 written up, as an inducement to the passer-by, 

 " home-brewed ale," and " home-made sausages," 

 when. Heaven knows ! the chances are that those 

 who partake of either delicacy will wish they had 

 been made a thousand miles from home. Such 

 men breed from any mare that will breed ; get a 

 common country forty-shilling sire ; or, if their 

 aspiring thought carries them so high, some tho- 

 rough-bred one, whose shape, make, blood, and 

 performance bring him to about the same price; 

 they thus get a living beast probably inheriting 

 all the combined imperfections of both j)arents, 

 put him (very properly, if they kept him there) 

 to plough at two years old, ride him at three, and 

 at four — provided he will carry you on his back 

 (for mouth or action is, of course, not attended 

 to) — he is sold as a " loickly thing " at forty or 

 thereabouts. " He has never been, in anybody's 

 hands but their own " (so much the worse). 

 " They know what he has cost " (very doubtful 

 this); ^' he must be worth that." Why? For- 

 sooth, because, like the beer and sausages, he was 

 manufactured at home. 



Going to topping farmers and breeders is quite 

 another affair. Such persons, being known as 

 breeders of horses of a superior class, are sought 

 out by private gentlemen, or by such dealers as 



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