182 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 
On May-day, in particular, it was the custom for 
everybody who owned a coach to go abroad in it with 
such display as his means and taste would permit. 
The first time when Pepys took part in this fashion- 
able amusement was in the year 1669. Shortly be- 
fore, he had purchased a fine coach, and had it painted 
in yellow and silver, and he had also paid a visit to 
the horse-market at Smithfield of which he wrote, — 
and there is nothing archaic in the remark, — “ Here 
do I see instances of a piece of craft and cunning that 
I never dreamed of concerning the buying and choos- 
ing of horses.” 
Pepys had defended himself against the wiles of 
the jockeys by taking along one Mr. Ned Pickering, 
a gentleman whose counterpart might easily be found 
at the present day. Mr. Pickering, younger son of 
Sir Gilbert Pickering, was bred to the law, but seems 
never to have followed that or any other profession, 
having picked up a living in devious ways. Roger 
North speaks of him as “a subtle fellow,” —the very 
description of a successful Jock. And this subtlety 
appears to have grown upon Mr. Pickering with years, 
—perhaps by reason of too frequent visits to Smith- 
field, —for toward the close of his life he tampered 
with a will made by Sir John Cutts, and, being 
detected, narrowly escaped imprisonment for the 
offence. 
By advice of this connoisseur, Pepys bought a pair 
of fine black horses at a cost of £50, and the bargain 
seems to have been a good one, for the Diary there- 
after records nothing but satisfaction with the steeds, 
and in due course Pepys made Mr. Pickering a slight 
present in recognition of his services. 
