376 riELD AND FERN. 



tail down to Laughing Stocky intermingling his dis- 

 course with Yeoman elegiacs. 



First it was blood-horses ; and " first and foremost 

 came Bangtail^ with his dark whole-coloured stock. 

 He ran some four-mile heats with Pleader, and each 

 Avon a heat, and then they had a dead heat. Outcry 

 by Camillus got great and good horses, roarer as he 

 was. Mr. Blamire, the member, brought Gregson 

 and Grand Turk the coacher into the country from 

 Tommy Swan of Bedale's. Gregson got great, fine 

 greys, when to own a grey was to have i^iO extra in 

 your pocket. Ben Ledi had good action, but curby 

 hocks. The Corinthians had all bad tempers, and 

 light back ribs ; and Boyalist was a cock-thropple- 

 necked horse, short and sound, but with no action or 

 power. The Earl was a little curb}^, and had an ugly 

 head ; but he got sound, good stock, and not very 

 handsome. Grey carriage-horses were Grey Wigan- 

 thorpe's forte. Mr. Ferguson w^anted a grey, but Sir 

 Tatton couldn't sell him one under four hundred, so 

 he dealt with Mr. Garforth. They were good car- 

 riage horses, but, like him, they were short of speed. 

 Phoenix was quite unsound when he raced, just like 

 all the Cobwebs. He was an elegant horse, of a su- 

 perb colour, but he wanted bone and fore-feet, and 

 the stock put out curbs perpetually. The Yeoman 

 (and here he was most emphatic) has done a deal in 

 sixteen years ; three-fourths of his foals were colts. 

 There are some rare mares by him; and Charley 

 Boy, that was a high lifter and slapping character 



