COLDSTREAM TO HAWICK. 181 



itself to the stable. The little thorough-bred black 

 and Prince Augustus by Teddington certainly know 

 nothing as yet of the sport, but the Birdcatcher ches- 

 nut E/obin has been duly initiated. He waits for the 

 Doctor on the bank ; but once upon a time, animated 

 by the same spirit which makes him pull so hard 

 with the foxhounds, he became deeply interested, 

 and walked up to his hocks in the middle of the 

 Teviot. When there, he essayed to encourage his 

 master with a playful dig in the back ribs, which 

 nearly floored him just as the fight was at the hottest, 

 and the injudicious bottle-holder Aras dismissed with 

 the whip about his hips. This cured him of all active 

 participation in worries for the future, except strictly 

 as a spectator. On land he is in a far higher 

 state of tuition than the rats : he kneels to 

 be mounted ; he kicks with both legs or one, 

 as he is directed ; he curtseys ; he Avill spar at 

 his master with the science of a Mace; carry his 

 whip along the streets ; or execute with liim, in more 

 festive moments, a species of Polonaise. And yet 

 the groundwork of this training was simply ^^ riding 

 him blindfold for two months till I got into his 

 favour .^^ 



Robin's antecedents are frightful to think of. Some 

 one got him in exchange for a itiare at Musselburgh 

 races, and couldn't ride him home. In fact, his antics 

 were so peculiar, that it is still an " historic doubt" 

 whether he entered the army in early life, or cast in 

 his lot with the foot-lamps and the sawdust. After 



