310 STALLIONS. 



same trick he had done that day, and nothing but extreme sever- 

 ity would induce him to do his work. He was also so cunning as 

 to utter groans on the slightest punishment, and then he would 

 put on the appearance of submission till he was released from the 

 vehicle, when he would kick and run at him with open mouth, 

 in the most savage manner. The only way he could subdue him 

 was to keep him constantly in the shafts, so that he could not lie 

 down, either by night or by day ; and he placed both horse and 

 cart under a shed, for protection from. the weather, the only sleep 

 he got being as he stood. Once a week (on Sunday) he permitted 

 the Moor to release him, and then the three, Agba, Scharn (for such 

 was his Moorish appellation), and the cat, seemed in a state of 

 ecstasy. 



" The carter goes on to state that an uncommon attachment 

 subsisted between the three ; that the Moor doated on the horse, 

 having accompanied him to Paris from Barbary, and that the cat 

 would jump on his back, purring continually, the horse whinny- 

 ing in evident gratification at his presence. He then proceeds to 

 say that he had purchased the animal from one of the royal cooks ; 

 and, on the Quaker expressing his astonishment that an animal so 

 meager should ever have belonged to the king, the wood-man pro- 

 ceeded to state how he came into his possession. 



" Scham was employed in the most menial capacity, drawing 

 a covered wagon from the Paris cuisine to that of Versailles, but 

 was so vicious, and so savage with other horses, especially if any 

 mares were in sight, that they could do nothing with him, and the 

 comptroller ordered him to be sold. No one, however, would pur- 

 chase him, not only from his known character, but because he con- 

 sumed more food than he was worth ; and he was at length given 

 to one of the cooks, to get rid of him, on condition that he would 

 find him sustenance. It appears, however, that his new master 

 kept him on short commons; for he actually attempted to make a 

 meal of the cook, having seized him with his teeth, and bitten a 

 large piece of flesh through his clothes. This was enough for the 

 cuisinier, who determined to get rid of the vicious brute. He ac- 

 cordingly sent for the wood-merchant, and offered to sell him the 

 horse for thirty crowns, but eventually parted with him for 

 twenty. 



"M. Sue then proceeds: The driver spoke truly; the horse so 

 lately put to the drudgery of the wood-merchant's heavy cart, was 

 one of eight Barbary steeds, which the Bey of Tunis had sent as a 

 present to Louis XV., in 1731, in consequence of having concluded 

 a treaty of commerce, which was effected in his majesty's name, 

 by M. the Viscount de Manly, a commander in the king's navy. 



" On the arrival of these animals in Paris, they, for a short 

 time, attracted the attention, or rather the curiosity, of the king 



