. The adventures of a gentleman in search of a horse. Horses. 10 THE ADVENTURES OF A GENTLEMAN advertisements of the papers. Cobs, hunters, and hacks, were as plentiful as blackberries in Septem- ber. The difficulty was only where to choose. *' The neatest little cob in London," " the best hack that ever was mounted," " that well-known hunter Tantivy, equal to fifteen stone up to any hounds,'* all offered themselves to my delighted eyes: and away I went, to try them all and buy the best. My reader must excuse me for a little digression, to give him some account of myself, s
. The adventures of a gentleman in search of a horse. Horses. 10 THE ADVENTURES OF A GENTLEMAN advertisements of the papers. Cobs, hunters, and hacks, were as plentiful as blackberries in Septem- ber. The difficulty was only where to choose. *' The neatest little cob in London," " the best hack that ever was mounted," " that well-known hunter Tantivy, equal to fifteen stone up to any hounds,'* all offered themselves to my delighted eyes: and away I went, to try them all and buy the best. My reader must excuse me for a little digression, to give him some account of myself, so far as re- gards my equestrian capabilities, otherwise he will not enter, as fully as I could wish, into the merits of my story. Be it known, then, that I ride rather more than twelve stone—have a good seat—never was afraid of a horse in my life—stand about five feet nine inches; and being still under middle age, I am of course far from indifferent whether I ara well mounted. Such I take to be the average pre- tensions of nineteen out of twenty gentlemen in search of a horse. <» My first adventure was with a Quaker. There are few things in which the Society of FriendB evince their characteristic shrewdness more than in their judgment of horse-flesh. I have a most sin- cere respect for them, both in their collective and IN SEARCH OF A HORSE. 11 individual character. I have long known many of them, and my acquaintance has taught me to value and esteem them; I therefore approached the owner of the first object of my speculation with much con- fidence. It was a well-bred, gay little gelding, full of life and spirit: and though scarcely high enough for my taste, I approved and purchased him. Friend Joseph was very precise with me. " There is the horse, friend; my price is thirty guineas.'*. "Will you allow me to try him, Sir?" "Thou art a stranger to me, friend; thou mayest injure the animal, and we shall not know who is in ; " Will yo
Size: 1923px × 1300px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookpublisher, booksubjecthorses
