236 The Post and the Paddock. 



carriage horses as well as hunters and hacks, and gives 

 and gets, without exception, as high prices as any man 

 of the day. He cannot rest if there is a good thing in 

 the market, and has always " a particular reason for 

 wanting it directly." We seldom give a passing peep 

 down those trim corridor-sort of yards, which make 

 one feel more than anything else the high dignity of 

 the horse in England, and see those mysterious, know- 

 ing little knots of purchasers which are ever scanning 

 him there, without calling to mind how the Duke of 

 Queensberry was wont, early in the century, to test 

 the pace of his running-footman candidates, by timing 

 them from his balcony, as they ran up and down that 

 self-same pleasant dip in Piccadilly. But our note* must 

 tell the rest. Mr. S. Cox of Stamford-street buys all 

 sorts, from high-class hunters down to cart-horses, in 

 which his uncle, the late Mr. George Cox, drove a very 

 thriving trade among the brewers and distillers ; and 

 Mr. R. Phillips of Knightsbridge, assisted by his father- 

 in-law, Mr. Tawney, buys very largely in Shropshire, 

 and furnishes a great many entire horses and other 

 thorough-bred stock to the foreigners. The Emperor 

 of the French, who has been amongst his largest cus- 

 tomers, christened one of his favourite riding horses 

 " Phillips," in his honour ; and it was from his and 

 and Mr. Quartermaine's stables that the King of Sar- 

 dinia made his selection when he visited England. 

 Along with Messrs. R. Dyson and East, Mr. Phillips 

 holds the contract for the cavalry horses, nearly all of 



* The running footmen drank white wine and eggs, and carried some 

 white wine in the large silver ball of their tall cane or pole, which un- 

 screwed. ***** They put on the Duke's livery before the 

 trial. On one occasion a candidate presented himself dressed, and ran. 

 At the conclusion of the performance he stood before the balcony. 

 " You'll do very well for me," said the Duke. " Your livery will do 

 very well for me," replied the man, and gave the Duke a last proof 

 of his ability as a runner by running away with it." — Notes and 

 Queries. 



