ld'2 TALES AND TRAITS OF SPORTING LIFE. 



woi til a fiftli of what was first bid for liim ! Others will 

 hecome yet more enamoured with their own^ and turn all 

 their g-eese into ganders. Such a man will look at his colt 

 until he finds him to be too good either to ride or to sell-; 

 and the coarse^ fleshy, cocktail country stallion is the 

 consequence. Plis owner's immediate influence in the 

 neighbourhood is sure to g'et him some mares ; and as he 

 has never done a day's work in his life, he is possibly free 

 from any very visible strain or blemish, a point that is 

 equally certain to be made the most of. It is almost 

 needless to say that the presence of such a stallion does 

 infinite injury in a district • and if the weedy thorough- 

 bred should not travel without a licence, it would be ad- 

 visable to put down such an animal as this other one by 

 Act of Parliament. Some gentlemen without any of the 

 direct call of the M. F. H. will ofl'er their friends the ex- 

 ample of a proper model of their own free will. An en- 

 thusiast like Mr. Pishey Snaitli, with a horse so well 

 selected as old. Theon — Captain Barlow, with Robin- 

 son replaced by Middlesex — and, I must add here, 

 Captain Watson, with the Bishop of Romford's 

 Cob, followed by Hungerford — must inculcate a 

 most useful lesson in their several districts. Theon did 

 wonders in this way about Boston ; and, despite their 

 vicinity to the capital of the turf, the farmers of Suffolk, 

 until within a few years back, were quite willing to try 

 and breed a hunter " anyhow," and from anything- that 

 came in their way. The improvement, thanks to the op- 

 portunity at Hasketon, I can say from personal observa- 

 tion in the'|county, is very remarkable ; while the Devo- 

 nians must know better than I can tell them how much 

 they in turn owe to the Dorsley Stud Farm, which I had 

 the pleasure of inspecting" a year or two since. I have 



