TATTEKSALL'S " TO WIT." 185 



of the pocket more by taking his friend's recom- 

 mendation, and have made a better addition to 

 the stud, 



I cannot here pass over a little anecdote of one 

 of my most esteemed friends, — a man of business, 

 but one with whom Fate was either blind or in one 

 of her wayward moods when she gave out the 

 ticket of his destiny. Instead of ever looking at 

 a ledger, he ought only to be asked to look at the 

 rent roll of a princely estate (his own) ; instead of 

 having to calculate profit and loss, he ought only 

 to have to calculate what his heart would always 

 prompt him to do, or how to serve his friends. I 

 have often seen him at his desk, never on his saddle 

 ■ — that is, with hounds; but I am told, when he 

 can steal a day from the former, he sails away in 

 the front rank on the latter. 



He was some time since in want of a horse ; 

 and a stud being advertised at Tattersall's, I met 

 him there, and found he intended buying one 

 from it. He allowed he did not know the horses, 

 so I took the liberty of hinting it was somewhat 

 hazardous buying under such circumstances ; but 

 as he said a friend, who had hunted where the 

 stud came from, had told him what to buy, I said 

 no more. He did buy one, whose shape and 

 make was certainly not perfection. However, I 

 saw him take away the new purchase, and thought 

 no more of the circumstance. 



