ATTENDING A TOILET. 49 



Martin's Act for preventing cruelty to dumb animals. 

 His friends must at times have been startled by his 

 appearance, when they would see him ride up to their 

 front-door ; for their first idea would be that some 

 ill-mannered groom with a note from his master had 

 forgotten that it should be delivered at the back or 

 side entrance. A nearer view would, however, show 

 them who was their eccentric visitor. 



Mr. Starkey both bought and bred horses, but 

 raced them with no particular amount of luck. He 

 had as many trainers as he had horses, about six of 

 one and half a dozen of the other, and mostly raced 

 them in the trainers' names. I don't think he ever 

 fished or shot except on very rare occasions, and his 

 hunting was of the same limited character. His 

 delight was to see his horses run, and specially to 

 attend to their toilet beforehand. He generally, by 

 some strange confusion of ideas, managed to get the 

 smallest boy to ride the very heaviest weight, or vice 

 versd ; and for about two hours before the appointed 

 time for starting, he might have been seen in a profuse 

 state of perspiration excitedly in search of the largest 

 saddle and the greatest number of heavy saddle-cloths 

 to enable the lad to draw the weight. This done, he 

 immediately commenced hunting for the horse ; and 

 for fear of losing any of the innumerable saddle- 

 cloths, or lest in a moment of abstraction he should 

 mistake another for the right saddle, he would 

 carry the whole of the things with him. The animal 



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