AN 1EISU HOESE COPER. 81 



or at the rate of a mile in five minutes, and he was com- 

 pletely bewildered, as may be imagined ; for, in the two 

 mile stretch at Stretford, he went by old Blazeaway like 

 a rifle ball, but now the old horse could beat his opponent 

 a mile in five. 



My readers will also wonder how this could be, and 

 it is time to inform them that the cob delivered to Mr. 



S was not the same that the coper trotted against 



old Blazeaway for ten pounds and sold to his victim. 

 The gang had two of these cobs, as near alike as possible, 

 and none but parties who knew, them well could tell one 

 from the other when seen separate. The one delivered 



to Mr. S had cost 24 at Stockport fair, rather more 



than his value, because he was a match for the "Trot- 

 ting Doctor," the name given to the real Simon Pure, 

 because of the number of patients he had cured of the 

 " trotting fever," and, in this case, his professional at- 

 tendance upon Mr. S cost that gentleman eighty-six 



pounds. But although his charges were high, his 

 patients had the advantage of being permanently cured 

 of that infectious malady, the " trotting fever." 



A few years ago, an Irish horse-coper brought a string 

 of the best-looking screws across the Channel that I ever 

 saw together. They were all well made, well bred, and 

 in superb condition, and for two or three weeks previous 

 to their arrival in England they were advertised in the 

 Liverpool and Manchester papers as the property of an 

 Irish nobleman, to be sold by auction without reserve, 

 at a livery yard, situate among the densely-packed ware- 



