10 RACE-HORSES NOT RUINOUS; — 



out the means : so will race-horses. If a man ruins 

 himself by either keeping the one or the other, it is 

 liis own fault : he does it gradually, with his eyes 

 open, and is, therefore, that sort of simple young gen- 

 tleman, who, if he did not do it by these means, would 

 be sure to do it by some other. We might as Avell 

 say a bottle of A\dne a day is sure ruin, because it 

 would be so to a merchant's clerk at 70/. a year salary. 

 We might as well suppose a man was certain to 

 be ruined should we see a pack of cards or a back- 

 gammon box and dice in his house, because many 

 have ruined themselves by an improper use of either, 

 or both. Even here I will allow a man to play with 

 either every day, and play for high stakes if he pleases. 

 Provided he always plays for about the same stakes, 

 plays witli gentlemen, not Legs^ and never bets, he 

 will find at the year's end that ( supposing, of course, 

 he has played with common judgment) he has neither 

 won nor lost enough to materially affect his finances. 

 So it is with race-horses. Let a man keep two or 

 half-a-dozen, according to liis income : let him buy 

 his horses with judgment, place them in proper hands, 

 and also enter them properly according to their quali- 

 fications in proper Stakes, and never bet on them or on 

 any other person's, and he mil never be ruined by 

 race-horses. Let him, however, bear in mind, that I 

 warn him he must lay by 500/. or 1000/. a year of his 

 income, according to the number he keeps, for their 

 expenses and his amusement. The whole of this may 

 not be called for : it is mthin the bounds of possibility 

 they may pay their expenses one with another, and 

 one year with another ; but he must not calculate on 

 this. If, therefore, he cannot afford to pay so nmch 

 a year, he has no business to keep race-horses : if he 



