21 1 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
and drag him down from his back. For this reason he 
was always ridden in what is called a sword ; which is 
nothing more than a strong flat stick, having one end 
attached to the cheek of the bridle, and the other to the 
girth of the saddle, a contrivance to prevent a horse of this 
kind from getting at his rider. 
“ King Pippin had long been difficult to manage and 
dangerous to go near, but on the occasion in question he 
could not be got out to run at all. Nobody could put the 
bridle upon his head. It being Easter Monday, and con- 
sequently a great holyday, there was a large concourse of 
people assembled at the Curragh, consisting principally of 
the neighbouring peasantry; and one countryman, more 
fearless than the rest of the lookers-on, forgetting, or per- 
haps never dreaming that the better part of courage is 
discretion, volunteered his services to bridle the Horse. 
No sooner had he committed himself in this operation, 
than King Pippin seized him somewhere about the shoul- 
ders or chest, and, says Mr. Watts, (Mr. Castley’s in- 
formant,) 1 know of nothing I can compare it to, so much 
as a dog shaking a rat.’ Fortunately for the poor fellow, 
his body was very thickly covered with clothes, for on 
such occasions an Irishman of this class is fond of display- 
ing his wardrobe, and if he has three coats at all in the 
world, he is sure to put them all on. 
“ This circumstance in all probability saved the indivi- 
dual who had so gallantly volunteered the forlorn hope. 
His person was so deeply enveloped in extra-teguments, 
that the Horse never got fairly hold of his skin, and I un- 
derstand that he escaped with hut little injury, beside 
the sadly rent and totally ruined state of his holyday 
toggery. 
“ The Whisperer was sent for, who, having arrived, 
was shut up with the Horse all night, and in the morning 
he exhibited this hitherto ferocious animal, following him 
about the course like a dog — lying down at his com- 
mand — suffering his mouth to be opened, and any per- 
son’s hand to be introduced into it — in short, as quiet 
almost as a sheep. 
“ He came out the same meeting, and won a race, and 
his docility continued satisfactory for a long time; but at 
the end of about three years his vice returned, and then 
he is said to have killed a man, for which he was 
destroyed.” 
It may not be uninteresting in this connexion, to give 
some account of this tamer of quadruped vice. However 
strange and magical his power may seem to be, there is no 
doubt of the truth of the account that is given of him. The 
Rev. Mr. Townsend, in his Statistical Survey of Cork, 
first introduced him to the notice of the public generally, 
although his fame had long spread over that part of Ire- 
land. We, however, give the following extract from Cro- 
ker’s Fairy Legends and Traditions of Ireland, Part II. 
p. 200, for the fact seems the work of some elfin sprite, 
rather than of a rude and ignorant horse-breaker. 
“ He was an awkward, ignorant rustic of the lowest 
class, of the name of Sullivan, but better known by the 
appellation of the Whisperer; his occupation was horse- 
breaking. The nickname he acquired from the vulgar 
notion of his being able to communicate to the animal 
what he wished by means of a whisper, and the singu- 
larity of his method seemed in some degree to justify the 
attribute. In his own neighbourhood, the notoriety of the 
fact made it seem less remarkable, hut I doubt if any in- 
stance of similar subjugating talent is to be found on record. 
As far as the sphere of his control extended, the boast of 
veni vidi vici, was more justly claimed by Sullivan than 
by Caesar himself. 
“ How his art was acquired, and in what it consisted, is 
likely to be for ever unknown, as he has lately, (about 
1810,) left the world without divulging it. His son, who 
follows the same trade, possesses but a small portion of the 
art, having either never learned the true secret, or being 
incapable of putting it into practice. The wonder of his 
skill consisted in the celerity of the operation, which was 
performed in privacy without any apparent means of coer- 
cion. Every description of Horse, or even mule, whether 
previously broken or unhandled, whatever their peculiar 
habits or vices might have been, submitted without show 
of resistance to the magical influence of his art, and in the 
short space of half an hour became gentle and tractable. 
This effect, though instantaneously produced, was gene- 
rally durable. Though more submissive to him than 
to others, they seemed to have acquired a docility unknown 
before. 
“When sent for to tame a vicious beast, for which he 
was either paid according to the distance, or generally two 
or three guineas, he directed the stable, in which he and 
the object of the experiment were, to be shut, with orders 
not to open the door until a signal was given. After a 
tete-a-tete of about half an hour, during which little or no 
hustle was heard, the signal was made, and, upon opening 
the door, the Horse appeared lying down, and the man bj r 
his side, playing with him like a child with a puppy dog. 
From that time he was found perfectly willing to submit 
to any discipline — however repugnant to his nature be- 
fore. £ I once,’ continues Mr. Townsend, ‘ saw his skill 
tried on a Horse, which could never before be brought to 
stand for a smith to shoe him. The day after Sullivan’s 
half-hour’s lecture, I went, not without some incredulity, 
to the smith’s shop, with many other curious spectators, 
where we were eye-witnesses of the complete success ot 
