24 FORM AND ACTION. 



castrated, but not with geldings deprived of their testicles at the 

 very early age they commonly are. I have on numerous occasions 

 essayed to determine the sex of a horse — gelding or mare — by exa- 

 mining the face when first confronted with the stable door ; but I 

 have found myself in error too often to think of drawing any dis- 

 tinct traits of difference between their countenances, and have been 

 forced to confess I knew not whether I were looking at a mare or 

 a gelding. Still, a great deal more information than appears to be 

 imagined may be gleaned from a happy knack of catching the ex- 

 pressions of horses' faces — the science of horse-physiognomy. 



I possess an esteemed acquaintance on the turf — a gentleman 

 whose judgment in the choice of a racer, by everybody intimate 

 with him, is on all occasions appealed to — who will not purchase a 

 thorough-bred horse unless his countenance be such as he approves 

 of. An ill-visaged, bad-tempered looking horse he invariably de- 

 clines at any price. His common practice in selecting racers out of 

 large studs is to have the horses for sale brought first to the door or 

 window of the stable, to give him an opportunity of surveying their 

 countenances ; after which, he only sees out such as he has in phy- 

 siognomy found faultless. 



I remember one day, while in Ireland, accompanying my friend 

 from Dublin into the country, in a buggy, to his chateau, when, as 

 we were riding along, I perchance observed to him, what a pretty foal 

 was running by the side of a thorough-bred mare in a field by the 

 road-side. " Yes," replied he ; " and that foal looks to me as if he 



were got by ," a racing stallion then in England. " How 



can that be," said I, " when the horse is not in this country V 

 " Why," returned he, " the mare must have been imported in 

 foal." " Oh, then I suppose you know that to have been the case." 

 " No ! indeed, I know nothing further than that the foal's face has 

 the identical expression of the old horse's." " Then you really 

 must excuse me, saying, that it appears to me you are forming an 

 opinion of the sire of the foal upon very slender grounds." " Slen- 

 der as you suppose them, I will make you a wager of a guinea they 

 prove correct." " Done !" — The way to settle the dispute was 

 ready enough : the farm-house of the property lay about half a 

 mile out of the high road. Thither we drove ; saw the proprietor, 

 a stranger to both of us ; and from him learnt, to my surprise and 



