MANCHESTER MEN. 83 



toria Station, Manchester, about twelve o'clock, the 

 time when the merchants would be in and about the 

 Exchange (where the horses must pass on their way to 

 the mart). 



The screws were every one led separately (by men 

 engaged for the purpose) in Indian file, about a couple 

 of yards from head to tail, and, as may be supposed, 

 they created no small sensation among the country 

 manufacturers and merchants on 'Change. Manchester 

 men are fond of " bargains," and those who are in the 

 staple trade there have generally money in their pockets, 

 or they know where to get it at very short notice ; and, 

 although I know some sporting writers of the present 

 day who sneer at the idea of the Manchester school, as 

 they term it, knowing anything about a horse, yet I 

 can assure them that there are many Manchester men 

 who ride as good horses, and are quite as much at home 

 in the pigskin, as the best of London gentlemen ; and 

 let those who cherish a contrary opinion gird up their 

 loins, and take a turn with the " Cheshire," among the 

 bulfmches or the rasping stone walls, to be met with at 

 every hundred yards in the countries hunted by the 

 Oldham, Disley, or High Peak Harriers, and I am sure 

 they will come away convinced that " Manchester 

 men" are indeed " men," in every sense of the word, 

 and not to be sneezed at, just because they make their 

 money out of cotton and calico. 



However, many of these Manchester men, in common 

 with four London and eleven Liverpool gentlemen, were 



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