60 MB. SPONGE'S SPOBTING TOUB. 



to Lord Bullfrog, who didn't think him exactly up to his 

 weight." 



" Up to his weight ! " exclaimed Mr. Caingey Thoruton, who 

 had uow ridden up on the other side of his great patron, " why, 

 he must be another Daniel Lambert." 



" Rather so," replied Mr. Sponge ; " rides nineteen stun." 



"What a monster ! " exclaimed Thornton, who was of the pocket 

 order. 



" I thought he didn't go fast enough at his fences the first time 

 I rode him," observed Mr. Sponge, drawing the curb slightly so as 

 to show the horse's fine arched neck to advantage ; " but he went 

 quick enough to-day, in all conscience," added he. 



" He did that," observed Mr. Thornton, now bent on a toadyimj 

 match. " I never saw a finer lepper." 



" He flew many feet beyond the brook," observed Mr. Spareneck. 

 who, thinking discretion was the better part of valour, had pulled 

 up on seeing his comrade Thornton blobbing about in the middle 

 of it, and therefore was qualified to speak to the fact. 



So they went on talking about the horse, and his points, and his 

 speed, and his action, very likely as much for want of something to 

 say, or to keep off the subject of the run, as from any real admira- 

 tion of the animal. 



The true way to make a man take a fancy to a horse is to make 

 believe that you don't want to sell him — at all events, that you are 

 easy about selling. Mr. Sponge had played this game so very 

 often, that it came quite natural to him. He knew exactly how 

 far to go, and having expressed his previous objection to the 

 horse, he now most handsomely made the amende honoralle by 

 patting him on the neck, and declaring that he really thought he 

 should keep him. 



It is said that every man has his weak or " do-able " point, if the 

 sharp ones can but discover it. This observation does not refer, 

 we believe, to men with an innocent penc/iant for play, or the 

 turf, or for buying pictures, or for collecting china, or for driving 

 coaches and four, all of which tastes proclaim themselves sooner or 

 later, but means that the most knowing, the most cautious, and 

 the most careful, are all to be come over, somehow or another. 



There are few things more surprising in this remarkable world 

 than the magnificent way people talk about money, or the mean- 

 nesses they will resort to in order to get a little. We hear fellows 

 flashing and talking in hundreds and thousands, who will do 

 almost anything for a five-pound note. We have known men 

 pretending to hunt countries at their own expense, and yet actually 

 " living out of the hounds." Next to the accomplishment of that — 

 apparently almost impossible feat — comes the dexterity required 

 for living by horse-dealing. 



