clear, but seven or eight can be got over if the horse has learned to take it as a dog does a stile, by leaping on and off; in this Irish horses are unrivalled, and the certainty with which they do it is quite astonishing.

In England, to be safe, a horse has much more to learn; for in the generality of countries a hunter has to manage fifty distinct sorts of fences in every run ; but then, in point of labour, he has one advantage ; for in most fences there are gaps or thin places, low stiles to jump, or gates to be opened, if we have time; if not, a moderate gate requires as little, nay less exertion than a moderate fence; and provided the taking off is sound, and horses are good timber jumpers, and fresh, I ever found they made fewer mistakes at moderate gates than they did at fences.

Notwithstanding the diversity of knowledge of fences our horses require to be perfect hunters, such is the aristocratic indolence of masters, and the ignorance and obstinacy of English grooms, that our horses are not taken half the trouble with to make them perfect as fencers that the Irish horses are: they are, to use an Irish term,"trained” to jump from colts; in fact a four-year-old Irish horse has learned his lesson perfectly, whereas ours very commonly, when first shown hounds, hardly know a hedge from a hurdle, and are then very frequently trusted to some pully hauly groom to teach them.

I have, however, found one great objection in many Irish hunters; from being hunted when young, and consequently weak, their riders are obliged to get them along as they can, and to lift them at all their fences, to make them rise at them; and when the horse comes to maturity, as but few are kept, they are hunted so often that the same system is perse

392 A FALL, “D–L A MATTER."

vered in : this gets them into the habit of expecting all this assistance and forcing; so that, in fact, though a man will be carried by Irish horses extremely well as a whipper-in, it is but few of them that will carry him pleasantly as a gentleman ; in truth, on many of them it is sheer hard work on the part of the rider to make them do their share of it. Paddy has no earthly fear of a fall, or, indeed, of any thing else. I suppose the horse participates in the feeling; for ride him quietly at a fence, he seems to think you mean him to go into it, and into it he will go; give him a shout and a lift, and the stouter your arms and the stronger your lungs, the higher and further he goes.

The next objection to Irish horses is their temper; in this they widely differ from their masters; you may easily exasperate the latter, touch his honour or his liberty “Och, murther,” but it is hard to destroy the cheerfulness of his temper; the goodness of his heart you cannot destroy: not so with his nags; there is a want of that generous attachable disposition about them that we find in our horses; possibly hard usage from their youth produces this sulkiness, and frequent wish on their parts to retaliate, for in sooth their life is not usually a sinecure. I believe this is the fact, and one cause of their usual want of temper; that is, good temper.

It may be asked, then, why are not the men of the same country equally sullen and morose, from the same cause. It is not my province, as an Englishman, to investigate such a subject; my only reply will therefore be a very short one:—they have Irish hearts.

INDEX.

Accidents, numbers of, arise from want ANECDOTES, Vol. I. - continued.
of judgment in drivers, i. 197.

Job horses, 35.
to horses travelling, i. 211. A lady at a rout, 37.
Action altered by rough roads, ii. 238.

Ladies bad judges of pace, 37.
high, does not constitute safety, Burke's seventeen-mile match, 52.
ii. 125.

Of a coachman with a new team, 56.
instance of improvement in, ii. Of one of the dog-cart tribe, 65.
235.

Of a coachman, 75.
quick, a great merit in hacks, Old Phenomenon the trotter, 80.
ii. 126.

A dentist, 83.
quick, indispensable to carry Breeching, a new sort, 83.
heavy weight, ii. 127.

Of a kicking mare, 88.
taking a hint on, from a pig, ii. Of a gentleman's coachmanship, 89.
239.

of the author driving young ones,
unsafety of, its causes, ii. 125.

89.
variety of, requisite in a hunter, Mr. Agar, 96.
ii. 247.

Of a riding-boy, 115.
Advertised horses, i, 319.

Of filling a dung-cart, 115.
Aerial journey for Powell and Oliver, Of a mismanaged race-horse, 122.
i. 152.

Trainer and riding-boy, 126.
A fair day's work for a coachman,

Of a crack huntsman, 137.
i. 201.

Power in Teddy the Tiler, 140.
Affectation disgusting in the field, Pointer Carlo, 142.
ii. 72.

Powell on Primrose, 152.
Agar, Mr., anecdote of, i. 96.

Of Belcher, 153.
A hard rider, i. 155.

Of Will Warde's whip on Long
Ale recommended as a cordial, ii. 376. Jane, 155.
Alice Hawthorn and a slow one, ii. Of a hard rider, 155.
80.

A baronet's opinion of a country,
All fair in horse-dealing reprobated, 162.
i. 192.

Of Mr. M. with the Berkeley, 168,
Almacks and Meltonians, ii. 332.

A mare who would not bear spurs,
American table d'hôte, i. 144.

170.
Amphitheatrical horses, ii. 304.

The author's little thorough-bred,
Ancient masters, some remarks on, 173.
ii. 284.

Of a fast donkey, 175.

A nobleman and his coachman, 203.
ANECDOTES, VOL. I. :-

Of the king of Prussia, narrated to
Of Captain Mellish and author, 13. a coachman by his Lord, 205.
Of a nobleman, disgraceful one, 16. Old Wimbush, 218.
of the author and bottle-racing, 18. A wall jumper, 232.
Of a German postboy, 25.

Pink-tailed horses, 243.
Of a coachowner, 32.

The two teams, 248.
Of a master of F. H. (the right A nobleman buying Punch and
sort), 33,

Judy, 251.

!

ANECCOTES, Vol. II.- continued. Astley's piebald mare, her sagacity, ii.
Marshall's singular obstinacy as re 314.

garded the picture of Lord Dar- Attention to hunting unfashionable,

lington and his fox-hounds, 288. i. 168.
Marshall's picture of Mr. Baker's Auction duties, appropriation of, i. 411.
horses, 289.

Auctions at repositories, i. 403.
Marshall's unique painter's tool, 289. Author apologises for his irregularity
The author's depredations on the in writing, i. 73.
store-room, 293.

censured for seeing prize-fights,
A connoisseur giving public break i. 60.
fasts, 301.

his impartiality handicapped ;
Red-hot balls, a lady's ideas about, a killing weight put on it, i. 86.
304.

anecdote of, in driving, i. 89.
Chiliby, the savage horse, ridden at and his groum; mulled port

Astley's by Miss Romanzini, 312. &c., i. 409.
Author and the butcher's horse, 313.

nearly done by Sunny, i. 385.
Astley's piebald mare, her extra-

out of his line, ii. 38.
ordinary sagacity, 314.

Author's Lincolnshire brook jumper,
The author's hunting expedition at

i. 233.
Dunkirk, 334-341.

sow manship, i. 253.
A London man of fashion and his

tenant, how to ensure health, 349. | Bad debts constantly occur to dealers,
A farmer and his men fetching up

i. 212.
lost time, the farmer's ideas on, Balls, red-hot, ideas about, ii. 304.
351.

Bankrupts and plate glass, ii, 2.
Peter Harvey and his sauce, 354. Baron, Monsieur le, ii. 334,
Coronation did the trick, and some Baronet, a, his opinion of a country,
knowing ones too, with home train-

i. 162.
ing, 355.

Barrington, George, anecdote of, i. 301.
The doctors, a true tale, 358.

Bars, leaping, i. 181.
Highland piper and the Frenchman, Bath and Brighton road celebrated for
365.

coachmen, i. 189.
A Frenchman's opinion of a good Battering rams exploded, ii. 41.
run, 367.

Battueing unworthy the name of sport,
A friend of the author's, his Leicester-

ii. 330.
shire campaign, 371.

Bay Middletons, why they cannot go
A field of Irish hunters near Dun on racing after a certain age, ii. 92.
lavin, 381.

Beacon Course (eighteen stone), i. 173.
The Mar Dyke, 382.

Beardsworth, Mr., i, 14.
Galloway clearing a canal lock, 383. Bearing reins, a few words on, ii. 167.
A horse taking twenty three fect at Bedford, match against time, i. 53.
a gate, 383.

-Spring's evidence on,i.55.
A red deer taking the garden wall at Beggarman, stopped by pace, ii. 47.
Cumberland Lodge, 384.

Belcher, anecdote of, i. 153.

Bellows, stopping to mend, ii. 48.
Alken, Mr., as an artist, remarks on, Betters, few keep horses, i. 16.
ii. 290.

Betting deeply, its fearful anxieties, ii.
Animal painting still in its infancy, 281.
ii. 294.

men an injury to the turf, i. 6.
Animation, its effects, ïi. 66.

men, and men who bet, distinct,
Anxiety of thousands during a race, i. 15.
ii. 281.

men promote rascality, i. 7.
Arab horses and American bears, ii.

on horses, not keeping them,
215.

ruinous, i. 11.
Ascott made use of, ii. 13.

Big horses against little ones, ii. 39.
Ashbourne steeple races, i. 148.

Biting, horses seldom cured of it, ii. 268.
Assistance to horses, how it affects | Bit, the rearing, i. 102.
them, ii. 72.

Bits, a coachman's attention to, i. 86.