Am 
MISCELLANEA. 
his lungs; and one year to ascertain whether he was infected 
with glanders. For every blemish discovered after the purchase, 
one-third of the money was to be returned, except it should be a 
blemish of the ears or tail. 
Howell likewise regulates the charges of us veterinarians ; for 
he determines that four horseshoes, with their complement of 
nails, shall cost twopence. 
HORSE-DEALING. 
ROBIN’s Intelligence, a newspaper published in 1679, con¬ 
tains as complete a specimen of roguery as can be imagined. 
“ The mare mentioned in our last Intelligence, as a lean pved 
one, narrow jawed, sour-headed, saddle-backed, goose-rumped, 
hip-shot, foundered and moon-blind, came this day into the 
market (Smithfield) so neat and trim, that, like a new beauty, 
all eyes were upon her. Her colour was now coal black, with 
a .star, snip, and one white foot; and she was blown up like 
butchers’ veal, until she appeared as queer about the buttocks as 
a suburb hostess. They had beaten out so much of her teeth, 
that you would have taken her for a yearling colt, as old-folks, 
when they have but a snag or two left, may be said to have the 
mouths of children ; and, indeed, all her defects were so sup¬ 
plied, that a sly racer of the west presently snapped her up, and 
designs to do notable feats with her on Newmarket heath.” 
O 
WE fill up our page with a riddle, that may employ and 
amuse our readers on some winter evening. It is taken from the 
“ Boke of Husbandry,” the first treatise on horse matters, and 
agriculture generally, that was published in the English language. 
It was written by Sir A. Fitzherbert, Judge of the Common Pleas 
under Henry VIII. 
“ Thou grasyer that mayst fortune to be of myne opinion or 
condytion, to love horses, and young coltes and foies, to go 
among thy cattle, take hede that thou be not beguiled, as I have 
been a hundred tymes and more. And first thou shalt knowe 
that a good horse has 54 properties ; that is to say, 2 of a man, 
2 of a badger, 4 of a lion, 9 of an oxe, 9 of a hare, 9 of a foxe, 
9 of an asse, and 10 of a woman.Later writers have pirated 
from Sir Arthur, but have not improved upon him. 
