130 CONFESSIONS OF A HORSE DEALER. 



gait, that seems to tell you that he fears no man, and 

 can face most women. 



Look at our genuine hunting men ; they are Nature's 

 gentlemen ; by which I mean those who can and do ride 

 up to hounds, distinct from the made-up specimens of 

 sportsmen occasionally visible at the cover side, but who 

 are never to be seen elsewhere, and who dare not com- 

 pete in a trial of pluck and skill with the real hunting 

 man across country ; the wealth of a Nabob would not 

 tempt them. 



If all those young gentlemen who have the means, 

 would breathe more country air, and indulge more fre- 

 quently in field sports, instead of wasting their valuable 

 health in the enervating dissipation of a London life, 

 they would secure to themselves a much larger amount 

 of enjoyment than that which they now partake of, and 

 of a rational and satisfactory description ; and their pallid 

 countenances and languid looks would give place to the 

 ruddy glow of health, accompanied by the bright eye, 

 the smart elastic step, the happy beaming countenance, 

 anc}. manly resolution of England's most noble children 

 viz., her hunting, shooting, fishing, coursing, rowing, 

 cricketing, rifle volunteering representatives. But I 

 'am unconsciously wandering from my subject, the expo- 

 sition of the practices of that class of the community 

 who live upon the credulity and industry of others. 



Another trick, becoming very much in vogue with 

 these characters, is called the " salt trick/' The modus 

 ogerandi is as follows; Two confederates appear aa 



