CABBIAGE HOBSES. 41 



luck," says he, as he hands it over. A shilling is re- 

 turned ; the coper spits upon it, and slips it into his 

 pocket, and the Bobby is once more in the hands of the 

 same party who brought him to the fair, and they have 

 cleared about 42 10s. by the transaction. The gang, 

 five in number, meet to divide the spoil at a place pre- 

 viously assigned, Long Jack receiving the lion's share. 

 The horse was taken to the railway station, and sent in 

 a box to Manchester, then the head quarters of this par- 

 ticular gang. From thence he was travelled to various 

 places. I saw him at Cardiff fair in May of the same 

 year, in the hands of the same party, who, I have no 

 doubt, had sold and rebought him many times since 

 Preston fair. 



" There's quality and fashion, not to be equalled 

 under the sun, and if they would pass a veterinary 

 surgeon's examination, would fetch at least 500 guineas," 

 said a plausible man, of respectable exterior, the agent 

 and accomplice of a gang of copers in the West End of 

 London, to a young gentleman who had plenty of 

 money, but no common sense, and who applied to the 

 coper as the person having two pair of fashionable, 

 high-stepping carriage-horses for sale, as described in an 

 advertisement, " in consequence of the decline of the 

 London season." 



The pair in question were dark bays, stood nearly 

 seventeen hands high, fine steppers, and in blooming 

 condition. They had been matched and trained by the 

 coper and his confederates to work well. together, but 



