THE
SPORTING DICTIONARY,
AND
RURAL REPOSITORY
OF
GENERAL INFORMATION
UPON EVERY SUBJECT APPERTAINING
TO
THE SPORTS OF THE FIELD.

Authors

,—who have dedicated much time and labour to the infinity of subjects which these Volumes will contain, have been both numerous and respectable; and to those who are accustomed to see things through a single medium, it will seem matter of surprise, that any thing NEW, INSTRUCTIVE, or ENTERTAINING, should be still left worthy of public attention; but when the unceasing influence, and decisive dictates of fashion; the abolition of old sports, and introduction of new; the various regulations in, and increase of, the penal laws for the preservation of GAME, and the privileges of killing; in addition to the great and unprecedented national exertion in the reformation of FARRIERY, {2} since the publication of the present Author's Stable Directory, are taken into the aggregate; it will be found, by the judicious and enlightened part of the SPORTING WORLD, that a more modern, comprehensive, and explanatory work, has not been too soon obtruded upon PUBLIC PATRONAGE. To enumerate individually here, those Authors, of the greatest celebrity, whose endeavours or productions have stood the highest in general estimation, would prove not only unnecessary, but superfluous, as they will of course be occasionally adverted to, and remarked upon, under different heads in the progress of the Work.

ARTISTS

—are gentlemen, the aid of whose pencils, in the decorative department of sporting publications, is considered so immediately necessary (particularly with the younger branches) in all matters of minutiæ requiring accurate representation, that the success is frequently considered doubtful and uncertain without the attractive influence of their professional exertions. It has been observed, and must be freely admitted, that, till within the last third of the last century, HORSES, DOGS, and GAME, have appeared less upon canvas (in proportion to the progress of the art) than any subjects whatever: whether they were thought less worthy the study and pencil of the master, or productive of less emolument, it may not be possible, nor is it much to the purpose, to ascertain. Certain it is, {3} they have never, at any former period, so nearly approached the summit of perfection as at the present moment; never were artists known more emulous; never were finer pictures produced by the foreign pencils of fertility, than are now exhibited by the natives of our own island; nor ever were artists of this description so largely patronized, or so well rewarded.

ABSCESS

.—An abscess (in either man or beast) is an inflammatory tumour, constituting a progressive formation of matter from some serious injury previously received by blow, bruise, or accident. It may also proceed from plethora, or gross humours originating in a too viscid (or acrimonious) {5} state of the blood; as well as a morbid disposition of the fluids; and many degrees of latent ill usage, to which HORSES are incessantly subject, from the too well-known and irremediable inhumanity of the lower classes, to whose superintendence and management they are unavoidably, and must inevitably, continue to be entrusted. From whatever cause an abscess may proceed, judicious discrimination should be expected and enjoined from the practitioners employed; many of whom (particularly of the old school) possess, and indulge in, the unhappy fatality of endeavouring to counteract Nature, and to set all her powerful efforts at defiance. Under this mistaken notion of scientific practice, in such and similar cases, great difficulties frequently arise; not more in respect to the very evident ill effect of erroneous treatment, but in the disappointment occasioned by a procrastination of cure.

ACADEMY

,—which for time immemorial has been in use to signify a seminary for youth only, has at length acquired, by the refinement of fashion, the honour of giving more dignity to what has hitherto passed under the denomination of A RIDING {7} SCHOOL; now transformed, by the sublimity of the superior classes, into an "EQUESTRIAN ACADEMY;" of which more will be found under the proper and distinct heads of Manege and Riding School.

ACCLOYED

—is almost obsolete, and will be buried in oblivion with the last FARRIER of the old school. It has been formerly used to signify an injury sustained in the foot by shoeing; as when a nail had swerved from its proper direction, and punctured (or pressed too close upon) the membranous mass so as to occasion lameness, the horse was then said to be "accloyed:" but no well-founded derivation is to be discovered for a term of so much ambiguity.

ACHE

;—pain arising from different causes, originating in blows, wounds, inflammations, and colds; as for instance, the CHRONIC RHEUMATISM, which may be termed a CONTINUAL ACHE.

ACRIMONY

—is a state of the blood disposed to only certain degrees of disease, by the quantity of serum becoming too great for the proportion of crassamentum, with which, in its state of active fluidity, it is combined for the purpose of regular circulation, so invariably necessary to the standard of health. Blood thus divested of its adhesive property, soon displays in HORSES a tendency to what are {8} termed acrimonious diseases, originating in, and dependent upon, the impoverished state to which it is reduced. Hence arises a train of trouble and disquietude more vexatious than alarming, more troublesome than expensive; as cracked heels; cutaneous eruptions of the dry and scurfy kind; a dingy, variegated, unhealthy hue of the coat; and frequently a seemingly half starved contraction of the CREST. These palpable effects of acrimony in the blood, are produced much more by the penury and indifference of the master, (or the neglect of his servant,) than any disposition to disease in the horse. Experience has sufficiently proved, that a sufficient quantity of proper and healthy food is so indispensably requisite for the support of the frame, and every office of the animal œconomy, that a want of such due supply must be productive of acrimony in a greater or a less degree; to obtund which, and counteract its effects, recourse must be had to alimentary invigorants and antimonial alteratives, as will be found more medically explained in "The Gentleman's Stable Directory;" or, "Taplin's Compendium of Farriery."

ACTION

—is a word in constant use with the SPORTING world, and horse-dealing fraternity, to express the peculiar property of a horse by his good or bad action: speaking of him as a subject possessing superior powers, he is called "a horse of exceeding fine action;" meaning it to be understood, he is {9} not to be found fault with; that he is calculated to make a very valuable roadster, "as he trots within himself (that is, with ease to himself) fourteen or fifteen miles an hour;" implying an unequivocal proof of his speed in that pace: that he goes in high style, "well above his ground;" meaning, that he lifts his legs light, quick, and freely, without dwelling or tripping, so as to be entitled to the degrading appellation of "a daisy cutter," by going too near, and of course always liable to fall.

ADDER STUNG

,—a term indiscriminately applied to the bites or stings of venomous animals and insects without distinction; and this probably arose from the frequent discovery of such accidents, without being able to ascertain the cause, or from what enemy the injury was sustained. HORSES, as well as DOGS, are sometimes bit by the VIPER, (called an adder,) slow-worm, or eft; but much more frequently stung by hornets, wasps; a large gold-coloured, long-bodied, glittering fly, called, "a horse-stinger;" or other poisonous insects, with which, in the summer months, the sunny banks of pastures so infinitely abound. In all injuries of this kind, bleeding (pretty freely in respect to quantity) should precede every other consideration; as instantly unloading the vessels must greatly contribute to the intent of reducing present and preventing farther inflammation. For some generations, unctuous and oily applications have been in general {10} use, without any well-founded reason, or established proof, of their being either infallible or efficacious; but in the present and enlightened state of much-improved practice, frequent fomentations of warm vinegar, an aqueous solution of sal. armoniac, or the vegeto mineral water of a pretty strong consistence, may be safely and advantageously preferred; assisting the general effort with small doses of nitre and gum arabic, to allay inflammation, and attenuate the blood.

ADULTERATION

—is the too prevalent custom of lowering the strength of spirits by the profitable addition of water, thereby reducing the quality by increasing the quantity; or, in words of less paradoxical import, by a most deceptive prostitution of integrity on one side, and an equally shameful imposition upon friendly confidence on the other. This species of lawless tergiversation, bad as it is, cannot be considered so truly unprincipled, so strictly iniquitous, or so cruelly destructive, as the adulteration of medicine: this has been for a long time past the purest privilege of the profession, and may be candidly concluded the most predominant and best-founded reason that can be assigned for the unprecedented increase of CHEMISTS and DRUGGISTS in every part of the kingdom. The superior art of adulteration consists (with the adept) in so securely incorporating the cheap and inferior substitute with the genuine and higher priced article of the Materia {11} Medica, as to insure the additional profit, and (secundum artem) escape detection. To this purity of principle, this species of professional privilege, it is, that individuals of opulence and liberality stand indebted for the disappointments they have experienced in the expected efficacy of "prescriptions faithfully prepared."

AGE

.—The age is generally a leading question respecting any horse offered for sale; and this is at all times to be ascertained with more certainty by the state of the TEETH than any other means whatever; unless he has undergone the secret operation of a DEALER, known by the appellation of "bishoping," which will be found described under that head.

AGUE

,—a fever of the intermittent kind, which was for many years a matter of doubt and controversy, whether fevers of this description existed in the horse, or merely in the brain of the FARRIER; when, after long investigation, strict attention, and steady observation, by practitioners of the first eminence, the point is at length acceded to; and it is admitted that HORSES are subject to, and attacked with, INTERMITTENTS, bearing an affinity to the quotidians, tertians, and quartans, of the human species.

ÆGYPTIACUM

—is a well known and long established external application in veterinary practice, and is thus prepared.

AIR

—is the element in which we breathe; a floating (or fluctuating) fluid, with which we are imperceptibly surrounded, and by whose elastic property we are enabled to exist. A philosophic enquiry into, or definition of, the very air itself, is not to the purpose here; nor, indeed, without a demonstrative and practical apparatus, can its wonderful properties be perfectly understood.

AIR

,—a technical term in the MANEGE, which can be but little explained in theory; a perfect knowledge of these terms can only be acquired in the practice of the schools.

AIRING

;—the taking of horses from the stable to the enjoyment of AIR and EXERCISE.

ALE

,—the good old healthy English beverage, brewed from malt, hops and water, alone, with no intoxicating or deleterious articles of adulteration. It is an excellent extemporaneous substitute for gruel, in cases of emergency with horses, where it is required as a vehicle in which to dissolve and administer medicine to prevent delay, as in cholic, strangury, &c.

ALOES

—is a resinous gum, extracted from the tree whose name it bears, and is brought to us chiefly from the island of Barbadoes. The shops produce two sorts, called Succotrine and Barbadoes; the former of which is the mildest; but the latter most in use, to insure the certainty of operation. It is the principal ingredient in purging balls for horses.

ALTERATIVES

.—Medicines are so called which constitute an effect upon the system, or an {17} alteration in the property of the blood, without any sensible internal or visible external operation. Upon their introduction to the stomach, they become incorporated with its contents; and their medical properties being taken up by the chyle, is conveyed through the lymphatics to the blood-vessels, where it becomes a part of the blood itself, which being fully impregnated with the neutralizing property of the article administered as an alterative, possesses the power of obtunding acrimony, and restraining tendency to disease.

ALUM

—is an article too well known in the shops, to require farther description, than its medical utility, when, upon any emergency, it may be {18} advantageously brought into use. Reduced to fine powder, and applied as a styptic to the mouths of divided vessels, to stop the effusion of blood, it will be found very efficacious. Dissolved in water, the proportion of one ounce to a pint, it is an infallible cure for the foul white specks, or little watery pustules, so frequently seen in the mouths of horses, (and supposed to arise from internal heat,) the parts being twice or thrice touched with a piece of fine sponge, properly moistened with the solution. Burnt alum, finely powdered, and sprinkled, very lightly, upon the fungous flesh of old or foul wounds, will speedily reduce it, and promote the cure.

ALIMENT

—has, in general acceptation, been received as a word strictly synonimous with food; and, like that term, been intended to imply support of any kind, in either a solid or a liquid form. One of the publications with which the press so frequently teems, from the fertile pens of juvenile veterinarians, says, "By ALIMENT, some understand only the nutricious part of the food; but this is a nice and useless distinction. Mr. Taplin uses the word aliment in both senses."

AMBLE

,—the pace in a horse, almost peculiar to country people, with poneys and galloways bred upon commons: its ease renders it convenient to women, and pleasing to children; but it is in very little use with any other part of the world.

AMBURY, or Anbury

,—is a complicated excrescence, bearing the appearance of a warty wen. Various have been the modes of cure; to prevent an unnecessary enumeration of which, will be to observe, that they may be safely extirpated, and completely cured, by carefully moistening the surface, once in every three or four days, with the butter of antimony, till they are obliterated; and this will certainly be effected, whatever may be their size or magnitude.

AMPHIBIOUS

—animals, are those capable of living both upon land and in the water, as the otter, the water rat, the eft, &c.

AMPHITHEATRE

—is an elegant and commodious structure, either circular or oblong, for the display of feats of horsemanship, poney races, fox hunts, and the exhibition of pantomimes. Mr. Astley's, near Westminster Bridge, has for many years been a favourite resort with the public; but he now finds a powerful rival in the Circus. Mr. Astley's skill in the military art of attack and defence, as well as his superior style of teaching in {21} the MANEGE, have jointly increased his reputation, and encouraged him to transmit to posterity, "A System of Equestrian Education."

ANATOMY

,—the study and knowledge of the structure of the human frame in all its component parts; an accurate knowledge of which can only lead the practitioner in surgery to the most distant hope of eminence in his profession, or celebrity in his practice. A proficiency in the anatomical formation of the horse, is every way as necessary to the success of the veterinarian, as the utmost efforts of skill to the surgeon.

ANGLING

—is the art of catching fish by rods and lines, of different construction, with baits, natural and artificial, according to the season of the year, and the fish intended to be caught. As this sport (if it may with consistency be termed one) is not very eagerly sought, and enjoyed but by few, it will not be much enlarged on here; more particularly as those who enter into the minutiæ of enquiry, and spirit of the practice, will find whole volumes appropriate to this particular purpose. A writer of no small celebrity, in alluding to this subject, says, "FISHING is but a dull diversion, and, in my opinion, calculated only to teach patience to a PHILOSOPHER;" and this most likely is the echoed opinion of every fox-hunter in the kingdom; for it should seem that the simple sameness {22} of angling, and the more noble, healthy and exhilarating sports of HUNTING and SHOOTING, were, in a certain degree, heterogeneous, as it has been but very rarely or ever known, that the enthusiastic admirers of one were ever warm or anxious followers of the other.

ANISEEDS

—are the produce of a plant cultivated much more in France, Spain, and Germany, than in any part of England. Those from Spain are preferred; they have a fragrant smell, a warm pleasant taste, with some degree of sweetness. When reduced to powder, they form a principal and efficacious ingredient in the preparation of the pectoral cordial balls for horses, where their virtues are fully admitted. They yield, by expression, an aromatic essential oil, containing all the medical property of the seeds, and is mostly imported to us from other parts ready prepared. Being an article of some expence, it is very much adulterated with sperma-cæti, and other articles, for the profitable purposes of retail, by the secundum artem abilities of the parties concerned. Those who expect any efficacious effects from the aniseed powder, should grind (or see ground) the seeds themselves; for the article sold in the shops under that name, is neither more or less, than the aniseed cakes reduced to powder in the common stock mill of the druggist, {24} from whence the essential oil has been previously extracted.

ANTIMONY

—is, in its original state, a mineral, extracted and separated from different ores by a peculiar process of eliquation; the various medical preparations from which, in the present state of hourly increasing improvement, absolutely excite both surprise and admiration. This article, now known and proved of such general utility, was alternately received into, and rejected from, a respectable rank in medicine, by both the ancients and moderns, till the more judicious and persevering speculatists established its estimation upon a basis too firm ever to be again shaken by the attack of whatever new opinions may be introduced for its degradation.

ANTLERS

,—used under different significations to explain the various branches of what is called the head (but divested of technical terms, the horns) of a deer. Except with the huntsmen of stag hounds, the keepers of parks, and out keepers of forests and chaces, the infinity of old terms and distinctions are become nearly obsolete; and ANTLERS amongst sportsmen, as well as sporting rhymesters, are now conceived to imply the whole head (alias the horns) of the deer.

APERIENTS

—are medicines which mildly soften the contents of the intestines, and gently promote moderate evacuation, without producing the strong and repeated effects of physic, given with an intent to purge.

APERTURE

;—a term in farriery, applied to the orifice or opening of a tumour or abscess, whether made by Nature, or by perforation with the instrument of the operator: in either case the principal consideration must be, to have it sufficiently large for the transpiration of the offending matter for which the effort was made; if in that respect it is deficient, relief must be obtained from the hand of the VETERINARIAN.

APOPLEXY

,—in horses, a paralytic affection of the brain, from too great or sudden flux of blood to the part, too powerful exertions of strength in drawing substances over heavy, or some pre-disposing tendency to inflammation.

APPUI

—is a term used in equestrian education; a perfect knowledge of which, Mr. Astley is of opinion, "can only be acquired in the MANEGE, by great practice, under judicious, experienced and able professors."

APPETITE

,—if good, in either man or beast, ought to be, and in most cases is, a clear criterion and proof of health. However, instances are not wanting, where a rule so seemingly just is sometimes subject to exceptions. The quantity of good and healthy food taken into the frame, is by no means an infallible proof of strength, or of what work the subject is, or ought to be, equal to: some horses are the greatest slugs in nature, though always feeding; while others, who undergo thrice their labour, do not consume even a moderate share of what is placed before them. This is probably one of the latent operations of Nature, upon which it should seem human penetration is not permitted to define, at least to a degree of certainty, in respect to both origin and effect. Scientific aid, and industrious investigation, may do much; but when done, the enquiry will rest upon no better {27} grounds than undefined hypothesis, and unconfirmed conjecture.

AQUATIC

,—appertaining to water. Fish are an aquatic production. Aquatic herbs take root in the soil beneath, and vegetate as well below as upon the surface of the water. An aquatic excursion is a party of pleasure upon the water.

ARABIC GUM

,—is a most useful article to dissolve with water or gruel in the sickness of horses. Nitre should never be given without half its quantity of Gum Arabic.

ARSENIC

,—is a most certain and destructive poison, mentioned here only to demonstrate its utility in clearing premises of rats, which it will infallibly do, if made use of in the following manner. Take (in the season when they are to be obtained) a dozen large apples; let them be pared, and the cores extracted; then chop them exceedingly fine, till they are almost a paste; to which add half an ounce of arsenic, reduced to powder, and two ounces of coarse sugar; mix well, and let this be distributed in their usual haunts, remembering to let earthen pans be set with plenty of water within their reach; and the sudden thirst they are seized with, after eating the smallest quantity of the composition, is so violent, that they drink till unable {33} to move from the spot; and if the preparation is made over night, and the rats are plenty, they will be found in the morning swelled to the utmost extent, and lying dead in different parts, as if they had fallen victims to a fashionable dropsy.

ARM

—of a horse, is so called (though it is properly the fore-thigh) from the elbow immediately under the chest, downwards to the junction at the knee: this should be uniformly strong and muscular, being wide at top, and narrowing proportionally to the bottom: if it is not so, but mostly of a size, it is an evident proof of weakness.

ART VETERINARY

—is the present improved state of FARRIERY, as taught at a newly established institution, called the Veterinary College at Camden Town, in the parish of Saint Pancras; where the pupils attend LECTURES upon anatomy, physiology, and medicine, under a PROFESSOR of the first eminence, as well as the practical part of the business at the forge and in farriery, till, being properly qualified, they pass the necessary examination before a committee of surgeons, when they receive their diploma, and embark for themselves as VETERINARY SURGEONS in the service of the public; or possess the privilege of an immediate appointment in his Majesty's service, under the patronage of his Royal Highness the Commander in Chief, at a stipend which does honor to the institution, {34} as will be found more fully explained under its proper head, Veterinary College.

ASCARIDES

—are a species of worms, to which horses are frequently subject, from two to three inches long: they are not larger in circumference than a common knitting needle, have a flat head, and in some degree not unlike the millepedes, at least in respect to their number of legs. They are in general voided with the dung, where they may be seen twirling and twisting about with wonderful rapidity, not unlike a grig, or small eel, when thrown out of his own element upon the grass. Horses persecuted with these painful and troublesome companions, are generally relaxed in the intestines, and throw off their dung in a loose state, affording, by that circumstance alone, sufficient proof how much they irritate internally, as well as why horses affected with worms, are not only low in flesh, but rough in coat, and almost every way out of condition.

ASTHMATIC

.—Horses are considered asthmatic, or thick-winded, who have acquired a difficulty of respiration, and a short husky cough, from blood originally dense and sizey having been permitted to become proportionally viscid, from a want of evacuants and attenuants in time to have prevented the obstructions which lay the foundation of this troublesome defect. The viscidity of the {35} blood constituting obstructions in the finer vessels, produce tubercles in the lungs, which, rendering their action partial and imperfect, occasions the difficulty of breathing, and repetition of cough, so constantly observed during the increased circulation of the blood, when the horse is brought into use. Frequent bleedings, and a course of the Author's Pectoral Detergent Balls, are the best means of alleviation and cure.

ASTRINGENTS

—is rather a medical than either a general or sporting term, and implies any article in food or medicine, possessing the property of restraining a too great flux of excrement after physic, or a too lax state of body, (denominated looseness,) proceeding from a previous fulness, or from intestinal acrimony, where the discharges have been a mere effort of Nature to relieve herself from the load, and not in consequence of any purgative whatever. In such flaccidity of the intestines, proceeding from whatever cause, a cordial ball occasionally, small quantities of liquid laudanum in gruel, and an ounce of gum arabic dissolved, and given night and morning in the water, will soon restore them to their proper state.

ATTACHMENTS

—Court of, a ceremony or court peculiar to the laws of a forest, and necessary to be known only by those who reside therein. The officers of this court do no more than receive {36} the attachments of the foresters, and enrol them in the VERDERERS' rolls, that they may be ready for the court of swainmote when held. This court of attachments having no power to determine upon cases of offence or trespass beyond the value of fourpence, all above that sum must appear in the verderers' rolls, and be sent by them to the court of swainmote, there to be tried according to the forest laws, which are replete with peculiar privileges, immunities, and what are termed royalties, appertaining to the Crown itself.

ATTAINT

—has been used, by members of the old school in farriery, for blows, bruises, cuts, and wounds, sustained in any one leg by injuries from the other. As it is, however, nearly obsolete, and may probably never be heard again, farther exposition becomes unnecessary.

ATTRACTION

—is positively, in some respects, the best property (if it can be so termed) a horse can possibly possess, at least so far as it is admitted to exceed every other qualification in its effect upon the mind of the owner during the time he is in possession; as well as no inconsiderable gratification of pecuniary expectation when the horse comes to be sold. The great advantage arising from attraction in a horse is, that, however vexatious his defects in respect to temper and action may be, he will never hang upon hand, or the {37} owner be long in want of a customer, if external figure and good colour do but afford attraction in any tolerable degree. There are always those in pursuit of horses for purchase, who more know what constitutes figure at first sight, than what constitutes good points after a week's examination. Two good ends (as the dealers term them) well set on, and both up, go a great way in the fashionable work of attraction; without one or both of which, a horse can never become a commanding figure, either before or behind; and, strange as it may be thought by the young or inexperienced, there are numerous instances of horses bearing, in their general appearance, a kind of attracting uniformity, that, upon critical investigation, are found not to have any distinguishing point of excellence about them. Those, however, who have the prudence to bear in memory the effect of attraction, and to secure it when they buy, will never be at much loss when they sell: it will be also by no means inapplicable to have it equally "in the mind's eye," that many horses without attraction are too dear at nothing.

ATTIRE

—of a deer. See Antlers.

AVIARY

—a receptacle for singing birds of different denominations, more adapted to the pleasures of the ladies, than any systematic pursuit or enquiry of the sportsman.

BABBLER

—is a hound upon whose tongue no firm reliance is to be made, either in drag, upon trail, or the recovery of a fault during the chase; so strictly true is the well known adage, that "a liar is not to be believed although he speaks the truth."

BABRAHAM

—was one of the best racers of his time; he was bred by Lord Godolphin; foaled in 1740; was got by the Goldophin Arabian out of the large Hartley mare, got by Mr. Hartley's blind horse; her dam Flying Wig, by Williams's Woodstock Arabian; grand-dam by the St. Victor Barb, out of a daughter of Whynot, son of the Fenwick Barb. He became a STALLION of much celebrity, having been the sire of Sir Isaac Lowther's Babraham, Mr. Leedes's Young Babraham, Babraham Blank, Jack of Newbury, Traplin, Aimwell, Louisa, Molly Long Legs, Harry Long Legs, Fop, Lovely, Americus, and many other excellent runners.

BACK

—of a horse, the very part upon which the centrical point of beauty principally depends. If he is long in the back, narrow across the loins, flat in the ribs, and light in the carcase, (however well he may be otherways furnished with good {39} points,) he will never be considered either a handsome or strong horse. Horses of this description are in general good goers as to speed, but very little to be relied on in hard service, or long journies.

BACKING

—is the term used for the first time of mounting a colt (or taking seat upon the saddle) after he has been previously handled, quieted, stabled, and accustomed to the mouthing-bit, the cavezon, martingal, lunging-rein, saddle, and the whole of the apparatus with which he has been led his different paces in the ring: all this he should be brought to submit to most quietly, as well as to the being saddled, and every part of liable discipline, before any attempt is made to back him; if not, it cannot be termed a systematic completion of the business. As backing a colt (after every precaution) requires a certain degree of cool and steady fortitude appertaining principally to the breaker, whose province it is, (and is but little attempted by others,) a minute description of the means and ceremony could prove but of little utility here, and is of course for that reason dispensed with.

BACK SINEWS

,—so called in a horse, are the tendons extending from the junction of the knee, at the back of the shank-bone to the fetlock joint, where they are inserted. These parts are so much acted upon, and partake so palpably of the labour in which the animal is constantly engaged, that they are eternally liable to injury from over work, rolling stones, deep ground, or projecting prominences in the pavement of large towns. When injuries {41} of this kind are severe, and threaten, by swelling and inflammation, some duration, a repetition of work should be by all means avoided. A speedy and permanent cure principally depends upon the first steps taken for relief, to which mild treatment, attention, unremitting care, and rest, will conjunctively contribute. In most cases too much is done in too short a time, to gratify either the impatience of the owner, or the pecuniary sensations of his medical monitor; burning applications (increasing the original inflammation) of what they term hot oils, followed up by blisters of extra strength, and lastly, the humane (and frequently ineffectual) operation of the firing irons, constitute the routine of professional practice, to the utter rejection of milder means, and the indications of nature, who, with the assistance of rest, would frequently effect her own purpose, and complete a cure.

BACK RAKING

—is an operation of which confident grooms, and indolent farriers, are too frequently fond. It is introducing the hand at the sphincter ani, to extract the indurated fæces, or hardened dung, from the rectum, in which the horse must experience considerable pain, that would be better avoided by the more humane and considerate administration of a clyster. By this a repetition of the more slovenly and less efficacious operation would be rendered unnecessary, as well {42} as the original intent more expeditiously promoted. There can be but little doubt, under the present improved practice, that means of relief so singular and unnatural, will soon give place to, and be totally superseded by, methods of greater neatness and humanity in their operation, and greater certainty in the effect.

BADGER

.—Though this animal cannot be said to afford sport to the superior classes, he is entitled to notice here, in conformity with the original intent and title of the Work. Former writers have, with a greater attention to the fertility of invention, than any respect to truth, held forth a seemingly plausible description of BADGERS of two distinct and separate kinds, under the different appellation of a dog-badger and hog-badger; the former having feet resembling a dog; the feet of the latter cloven, exactly similar to those of the hog. To strengthen this assertion, they tell you they subsist on different food; that the one eats with eagerness any kind of flesh and carrion as a dog; the other, roots, fruits, and vegetables, as a hog. This, however, may be justly considered the effect of fiction, or of a too enlarged imagination, as the existence of only one kind of badger is admitted amongst us, with such trifling difference in size or colour, as may happen from age, the peculiar soil of any particular county, or other such collateral circumstance as may add something to the size in one {43} part of the kingdom, or vary a shade or two in the colours of another.

BALLS

,—medicines so called when prepared in that form, as they now mostly are, for the mitigation and cure of almost every disease to which the horse is incident. There are purging balls of various kinds, prepared of proportional strengths, and compounded of different ingredients, with or without the impregnation of mercury, according to the {46} state, disease, or condition of the subject. Mild and strong diuretic balls, for cracked heels, swelled legs, fluctuating humours, and grease. Pectoral cordial balls, for colds, as well as to be given after severe chases, or long journeys: they are also useful when a horse is off his appetite, as well as an excellent preventative to cold when a horse has been long out of the stable, in sharp winds or chilling rains. Pectoral detergent balls, for obstinate coughs, and thick-winded horses. Likewise balls for flatulent and inflammatory cholic, as well as for strangury and other disorders. Articles of this description are usually prepared from the prescriptions of those authors who have written upon farriery and veterinary medicine; but, for the accommodation of the public at large, and to prevent the abuses sometimes attendant upon the casual preparation in shops, by the inattention of servants, or the privilege and practice of substituting one article for another, the Author, immediately after the publication and success of his "Stable Directory" prepared his own advertised medicines, which have now been fourteen years honoured with public patronage, a list of which, with the prices, will be found annexed to this Work.

BALSAMICS

,—in medicine, is a kind of indefinite term, upon which the most eminent writers have hardly agreed: but however they may have differed in respect to derivation, there can be no doubt {47} but the true sense of the word must appertain to such nutritive emollients, and gelatinous restoratives, as heal without, and invigorate within. The term is more generally applied to medicines administered in disorders of the chest and lungs.

BARBS

—are horses brought from the coast of Barbary, and mostly consigned as presents to His Majesty, or some other branch of the royal family. Those arriving under such distinction, are to be considered the true MOUNTAIN BARB, the pedigree of whose blood has been recorded with as much tenacity and care as the genealogy of our most ancient nobility. Barbs (as they are called) are to be found in the possession of many people of fashion and fortune in England, but they are in general of inferior degree, and thought to be only the common horses of the country from whence they came: such there are at all times to be obtained through the intervening medium of Provence and Languedoc in France; but in this kingdom they are held in very slender estimation; not more for their deficiency in growth and strength, than the aukwardness of their action.

BARS

—are the fleshy ridges at the upper part of a horse's mouth. These ridges are always more prominent in young horses than in old. When they are luxuriant towards the front teeth, and, with a kind of elastic puffiness, project and prevent mastication, they are called Lampas, (which see.) In all cases of emergency where bleeding is necessary, and the apparatus not at hand, particularly in the night, an incision or two across the bars with the fleam, instantly answers the purpose, and prevents farther ceremony.

BAT FOWLING

—is a favorite sport with farmer's servants on a winter's evening, and can only be enjoyed with a degree of success proportioned by the darkness of the night. The party should not consist of less than four; two of whom are provided with long flimsey hazel sticks or hurdle rods; the third carries and manages the flap, (or folding net;) and the fourth a candle and lanthorn, suspended to the end of a pole seven or eight feet long. Upon the net being spread, by separating the side rods to their utmost extent, before the corn-rick, out-houses, eaves of stable thatch, yew hedge, or {54} whatever spot it is intended to try, the candle and lanthorn is then to be held up as nearly the centre of the net as possible, but at about three or four feet distance, just before the assistants begin to beat the rick, thatch, or hedge, with their poles; when the birds being thus suddenly alarmed from their resting-place, make instantly for the light, when the net being directly closed (if by a skilful practitioner) the success is beyond description; it being no uncommon thing, in large remote farms, and in severe winters, to take twenty or thirty dozen of sparrows, and other small birds, in one evening's diversion.

BATTLE ROYAL

—was formerly (much more than at present) a favorite mode of fighting amongst COCKERS of the lower order, who, upon the old maxim of "the more danger the more honor," became practical advocates for general destruction in the following way. A battle royal may consist of any number of cocks, but is hardly ever known to exceed eight. The owner of each having made good his stake, or previously contributed his share of the prize or purse for which they fight, and all parties being ready, the cocks are most inhumanly pitted at the same moment, when a long and distressing scene ensues, to which there is no termination so long as a second cock is left alive, and the victory can only be obtained by the last survivor. This species of sport is but little practised now, {55} and that in the most distant and remote corners of the kingdom.

BAY

—the colour of a horse so called, and is the most esteemed of any other in constituting the beauty of the horse. They have invariably black manes and tails, are many shades lighter than a brown horse, and were originally called bay from their affinity to the leaf of the bay tree. There are, however, some degrees of difference and variations in those so termed: for instance, there is the light or yellow bay, the brown bay, and the mottled bay. Bay horses with black legs have the preference of all other colours, and now almost wholly constitute the racing breed of this country.

BAY

—is a sporting term, and used in the following sense. When a stag has been so long pursued that, finding his speed or strength nearly exhausted, he turns round, (having some protection of building or paling in his rear,) and facing the hounds, resolutely defends himself with his antlers, keeping the hounds at bay, till the sportsmen come up, who immediately assist in drawing off the hounds, and saving the life of the deer. When the deer takes soil, (that is, takes to the water,) he will defend himself, and keep the hounds a long time at bay, provided he fathoms the lake or river so well as to keep the hounds swimming, and not go out of his own depth; if he loses which, and is obliged to swim at the time he is up, (in other words, quite {56} tired,) and surrounded by the hounds, he is inevitably drowned by his numerous and determined foes, in opposition to every exertion that can be made to save him.

BAY BOLTON

—was bred by Mr. Vernon; foaled in 1777: he was got by Matchem, dam by Regulus, out of an own sister to the Ancaster Starling. He has long been in the possession of his Majesty, and was for many years the favorite stallion at Hampton Court, from whom most of his Majesty's present stud were produced.

BAY MALTON

—was esteemed the first horse of his year in the kingdom, and won more prizes of consequence and value than any horse of his time. {57} He was bred by the then Marquis of Rockingham; was foaled in 1760; got by Sampson, dam by Cade, and grand-dam by Old Traveller. It is believed he never covered as a STALLION: if so, he produced no horses of note.

BAY TREE

—The leaves of which are so useful in fomentations, and the berries in clysters, for horses upon every emergency, particularly remote from towns, that sporting gentlemen in the country should never be without a tree of this description upon their premises.

BEAGLES

,—in early stages of the sporting world, was an appellation of much more definite meaning than in the polish of the present times, and was then used to signify a brace or two of the tanned or pied hounds of small dimensions, with which the country squire or opulent farmer picked and chopped the trail of a hare to her form for a course with his greyhounds. As they were, however, so constantly useful in recovering the hare after the first course, and bringing her to view for a second, it became in a great degree stigmatized by sportsmen in general, and is now considered neither more or less than one mode of poaching under the sanction of legal authority. Many packs of these small beagles (for beagle then implied the smallest kind of hound known) were formerly kept by country gentlemen at a very trifling expence, and with no small share {58} of amusement to their rustic neighbours; for, although those who joined in the chase might be numerous, yet two or three horsemen only were seen in the field, so easy was it to keep up with the hounds (alias beagles) on foot. They were in general so well matched, that they did not exceed eleven inches in height; and ran so well together, they (to speak technically,) "might be covered with a sheet." Though they were slow, they were sure; for if the scent lay well, a hare could seldom escape them; and this, to the object of pursuit, mostly proved a lingering as well as a certain death: for though, in the early parts of the chase, they could never get near enough to press her, they were frequently two or three hours in killing.

BEAK

,—the bill of a bird, more expressively understood in the "setting too" of a cock; which, according to the articles and fixed rules of cocking, must be "beak to beak."

BEAM

,—in the head of a deer, is the basis, or part bearing the antlers, royals and tops.

BEAT for a Hare

,—is a term in hunting, much less known, and much less used, formerly, {60} than of late years. When the huntsman was mounted at day break, and the hounds were thrown off at the place of meeting, as soon as the horsemen could see to ride, the hounds took trail, and went to their game in a style much better conceived than described. No assistance was then required to beat for hares, when the hounds were thus early enabled to find for themselves. A chase (or two) was enjoyed at that time, and the hounds at home in the kennel, before the hour at which it is now the custom to reach the field. Hence the custom of engaging help to beat for a hare, the worst method that can be adopted, and the most destructive of all discipline with the hounds; for once accustomed to the practice, heads are all up; and they are much more employed in staring about, and listening for a view holloa, than in putting their noses to the ground.

BEDDING

—appertains here only to the bedding of the horse, upon which there are such a variety of opinions, that there cannot be the least expectation of all ever centering in one point. While some are profuse of straw at all seasons, even to a degree of waste and extravagance, others, from a parsimonious principle, do not (at least readily) admit the necessity of any at all. In extremes, perhaps, the line of mediocrity may be the most satisfactory, and least liable to reprehension.

BETTING

—is one great gratification of happiness with the people of this country, who never {61} can be said to be truly happy, unless it is blended with a chance of becoming completely miserable. It is that kind of national furor, that no laws, however penal, no restrictions, however severe, can have sufficient force to stem the torrent of popular propensity; particularly when nurtured and encouraged by the prevalent example, and personal practice, of the first and most exalted characters in the kingdom. Experience has for ages proved it a privilege implanted in the very hearts of its devotees, which can only terminate when sporting propagation ceases, and will of course continue to the end of time. Legislative dictation, and magisterial authority, may give a temporary check to games of chance at tables of public notoriety, where the most villainous depredations are in constant practice; but so long as that excitement to the true spirit of speculation, a lottery, the exhilarating power of a race, the infectious clamour of a cockpit, or the greater hobby-horse of John Bull, a boxing match, is open to all minds, and in all directions, so long will betting excite the attention, and continue to constitute the pleasing, painful anxiety of pecuniary speculation with the people of this country, (and probably of every other,) from the highest to the lowest classes of society.

BISHOPING

—is an operation performed upon the teeth of a horse, and supposed to have derived its modern appellation from an eminent and distinguished dealer of the name of Bishop; whether from any peculiar neatness in, or reputed celebrity for, a personal performance of the deception, it is most probably not possible (or necessary) to ascertain. The purport of the operation is to furnish horses of ten or twelve years old with a regeneration of teeth, bearing the appearance of five or six, and is thus performed. The horse being powerfully twitched by both the nose and the ears, a cushioned roller (large enough to keep the jaws extended) is then placed in the mouth; which done, the teeth of {64} the under jaw are somewhat reduced in their length (according to their growth) by the friction of a whitesmith's cutting file: an engraver's tool is then employed in taking away as much from the centre of the surface of each tooth as will leave a conspicuous cavity in the middle; this cavity (or rather every individual cavity) is then burned black with an iron instrument red hot, and adapted to the purpose; a composition of cement is then insinuated, so well prepared in both colour and consistence, that it is frequently not discoverable (at least to slight observers) for many months after its introduction.

BITCH

—is the feminine of the canine species, in contra-distinction to dog. It is sometimes used in a similar sense with respect to foxes, where the female is termed a bitch fox; though a vixen is the more sportsman-like appellation. Bitches are sometimes spayed, to prevent their farther propagation: it requires judgment and expertness in the operation, the best time for which is about a week after the heat is gone off.

BITS

—are of different kinds, formed of iron, and constitute the mouth-part of bridles of every denomination, whether in carriage harness, or for use on the turf, in the chase, or upon the road. The single large-mouthed bit, first used with colts in breaking, is known by the name of mouthing-bit: the same shaped bit, but of a much smaller size, {65} with a small cheek of about three inches long, is called a piped cheek snaffle. A single bit, having a curb, and a cheek of five or six inches long, with one rein only, and that inserted to the bottom of the cheek, is termed a hard and sharp, and with justice; it is one of the worst inventions ever adopted, never seen in use with a sportsman, and only calculated for vicious run-away horses, not to be stopped by any common means. A bit of the same form, having eyes for two reins, one on each side the mouth-piece, and others at the lower extremity of the cheek, are called pelhams, as a favourite bit of the old Duke of Newcastle. A bridoon is a small snaffle, or mouth-piece, having no other cheek than a circular eye to receive the rein into the same headstall, with which is stitched a roller-mouthed polished port bit, having a cheek of four, five or six inches in length, according to fancy, or the mouth of the horse: the rein to this bit is affixed to the lower extremity of the cheek, and, in conjunction with the bridoon, constitutes the double reined bridle, called a Weymouth, mostly in use.

BITES

—frequently happen to sporting dogs as well as to horses, but much more frequently to the former, by poisonous insects that are, as well as many not known. Means of relief must of course be regulated by immediate appearances: in great inflammation, bleeding, and external emollients, are of good effect: in bites of the viper, its own fat liquified, {66} and to be had at the medical shops as the "oil of vipers," is acknowledged a certain antidote.

BITTERN

—is a bird of similar formation to the heron, but of much smaller size, and more beautifully variegated in its plumage. They are principally found in sedgey moors, where they breed, particularly within a few miles of the sea-coast, not being very common in the centrical parts of the kingdom. If brought down by the gun with only a broken wing, they display great courage in opposing their destroyer; possessing such determined power, and quick exertion of both talons and beak, they cannot be with safety secured till deprived of life. From their scarcity, they are esteemed a rarity at the tables of the great, where one is received as a handsome present; a brace being seldom seen together, either dead or alive.

BLACK ACT

—is so called, because it was enacted in consequence of the most unprecedented depredations committed in Essex by persons in disguise, with their faces blacked and disfigured, and is literally thus.

BLACK-LEGS

—is the expressive appellation long since given by the superior classes of the sporting world (consisting of noblemen and gentlemen of fortune) to the very honorable and very distinguished fraternity who are known to constitute "a family," and are, perhaps, without exception, the most unprincipled and abandoned set of thieves and harpies that ever disgraced civilized society. They are a body, existing by, and subsisting upon, the most villainous modes of deceptive depredation: their various modes of attacking, and preying upon, the credulity of the inexperienced and unsuspecting part of the public, are beyond conception: their number is incredible, and their stratagems exceed description. Destitute not only of character, but of every sense of honor, their minds are destined solely to the purposes of determined devastation upon the property of those unthinkingly seduced or betrayed into their company; upon whose credulity and indiscretion they are supported in a continued scene of the most luxurious and fashionable dissipation.

BLADDER

—is a part of the horse liable to disease; but seldom known to occur, unless by the indiscretion of the owner. A long retention of urine, by continuing a journey to too great an extent without stopping, may produce strangury; and that not being soon relieved, inflammation may ensue. Instances are recorded of stones, calcareous {69} substances, and different concretions, having been found in the bladders of horses after death. Discretion is a proper and cheap preventative.

BLANK

—was a horse in high form, beating almost every horse of his time, and his blood was held in the utmost estimation: he was bred by Lord Godolphin; foaled 1740; got by the Godolphin Arabian, dam by Bartlett's Childers, out of the dam of the Large Hartley Mare. The various performances of Blank will not admit of being brought within the compass of so concise a description; therefore, suffice it to say, that, after his performances upon the turf, he became a stallion of the first celebrity, and was sire of Ghost, Tripod, Chatsworth, Hengist, Croney, Yeoman, Porsenna, Lottery, Young Blank, Lustre, Lumber, Whipster, Amazon, Britannicus, Charlotte, Prussia, Helen, Lycurgus, and a very long list of excellent runners, too numerous for insertion under this head.

BLEEDING

—of horses is a simple and easy operation, hitherto performed with an instrument called a fleam, which being steadily supported over the neck vein (about five inches below the superior process of the jaw-bone) is forcibly struck with what is professionally termed a bloodstick, turned out of the wood called lignum vitæ, as being sufficiently heavy to insure weight and certainty to the blow: the blade of the fleam is supported by a {70} shoulder, to prevent the incision's being made beyond the depth of safety: the use of the line round the lower part of the neck, previous to the operation, is now greatly out of use; although it is certainly a means of keeping the vein firm from fluctuation, and of course a very proper guide, particularly for young practitioners. Of late years this mode of operating has greatly declined, particularly with veterinarians of the new school, the most expert of whom adopt the use of the lancet, and are introducing it to general practice; and, although the neatness of the operation must be candidly admitted, yet, with high spirited, shy, unruly horses, (where there is a chance of the point of the lancet's being broken in the orifice,) a doubt naturally arises, whether, in such cases, the former method is not both the least troublesome and least dangerous of the two.

BLEMISHES

—are so called which constitute disfiguration and eyesore, without impediment to sight or action; it is therefore readily conceived, a {72} horse may be very materially blemished without being unsound. Blemishes are various, and many of them not to be immediately perceived, in a superficial survey of the subject: broken knees are a very material and conspicuous blemish: splents, if large, are unpleasing to the eye of the good judge and nice investigator: warts are easily observed, and as easily cured: thrushes, and a carious state of the frogs, not to be known but by an examination of the feet: sandcracks, previously cured, sometimes remain unseen, but are always liable to a renewal of the original defect: the marks of former blistering is, in general, to be plainly perceived by a variation in colour, or an unnatural roughness in the hair of those parts: the marks of firing-irons may be easily traced (however neatly performed) upon the hocks for spavins and curbs, or upon the back of the shank-bones for strains in the back sinews. A horse may be blemished by a speck in the eye, arising from a blow with the lash of a whip or switch; this is frequently no more than a partial thickening of a small part of the outer humour of the eye, not obstructing those rays of light which constitute vision.

BLINDNESS

—in a horse (whether in one or both eyes) may originate in a variety of well-known causes, many of which are occasioned by means of violence, and may at all times be prevented by proper care and humane attention. If a horse, having naturally good eyes, is observed to undergo a sudden change in the external appearance, from enlargement of the lids, or a discharge of hot watery serum, with a visible heat and pain of the part, (the horse constantly shaking his head and ears,) it may reasonably be attributed to some cause originating in external injury: if not by such means, it must be from some morbid affection in the system, acting more immediately and powerfully upon the most irritable parts.

BLISTERING

—is an operation performed upon a horse by unguents prepared of different degrees of strength, according to the circumstances of the case. They are in general use for blood and bone spavins, curbs and strains of the back sinews: where they do not complete the purpose for which they were intended, they are repeated at a proper period; or firing the part is adopted, and the horse is turned out. Blistering is in general too soon resorted to as a remedy, and in many cases before the inflammation arising from the original injury has sufficiently subsided for the operation to take place; from which injudicious mode of practice, a permanent enlargement of the part is occasioned, that is never got rid of during the life of the horse.

BLOOD

—is the well known fluid issuing from wounds, or separated vessels, in an accidental destruction of parts: it is not only the very basis, but the support, of life itself; and drawn from the frame of any animal beyond a certain proportion (professionally {76} ascertained,) causes instant death. In the regular routine of the animal œconomy, blood is generated by the frequent supplies of nutritive aliment, and retaining within itself sufficient strength and power for its own peculiar purposes, throws off, by the different emunctories, the superflux with which it may be encumbered: but as medical or anatomical disquisition is not intended in a work of this general kind, it must suffice to observe, that, from the blood in its original and first formed state, proceeds all the progressive and superior functions of Nature. From the blood issues every gradational proportion of insensible, sensible and profuse perspiration; from the blood, the urine is secreted (or separated) by the kidnies; and from the blood is extracted, by the genitals, that very masculine semen, by which (we are told from high and indisputable authority) our posterity is to be continued to the end of time.

BLOOD HOUNDS

.—Those so called, have always had a kind of fabulous property ascribed to them, of pursuing, and infallibly taking or seizing, robbers, murderers, or depredators, whenever they could be laid upon the footsteps (or scent) of the particular object they were intended to pursue; and of their possessing this property there can be no doubt, when the experience of ages, transmitted to us by our predecessors, (as well as our own observations,) have afforded the most indisputable proofs, that {77} hounds may be taught or broke in to carry on any particular scent, when feelingly convinced they are to hunt no other. There requires no "ghost from the grave" to confirm a fact of so much notoriety: a mere sporting embryo would tell us, that "a pack who for some years hunted fallow deer in the possession of their last owner, are hunting hare in high style with the present; that the principal body of the celebrated pack who for some years past hunted fox with Lord Darlington in the north, are now probably destined to the pursuit of the red deer with Lord Derby in the south: and the whole art of changing hounds from one chase to another is the temporary trouble of breaking them afresh, and making them steady to the scent they are to pursue."

BLOOD SPAVIN

—is a preternatural and puffy enlargement on the inside of a horse's hock, proceeding from a distension of the vein crossing the internal junction of the inferior part of the thigh bone with the superior part of the shank; and whenever such injury is observed, it may rather be supposed to have originated in a blow, a kick, or more probably from a ligamentary twist or distortion, (by a short and sudden turn in the small stall of an ill constructed stable,) than by any continued exertion of speed, either on a journey or in the chase.

BLOWS

—inconsiderately given, in passion, to harmless, inoffending animals, are nineteen times out of twenty productive of repentance, when probably repentance comes too late. A horse sometimes, and most commonly from the inattention of the rider, steps almost unavoidably upon a flint or rolling-stone; and in the very exertion of recovering himself from nearly falling, he at that critical moment receives a severe and unexpected blow behind the ear from the stick of his philosophic, patient, humane rider, which brings him instantly to the ground, giving and receiving ample proof, that "the remedy was worse than the disease." No conjectures need be formed upon the loss of eyes annually sustained by blows from petulant masters, as well as the most rascally servants; injuries of this kind may be daily seen by observers with their eyes open in every part of the kingdom.

BONE SPAVIN

—is an ossified enlargement on the outside of, and rather below, the centre of the hock, originating in a cartilaginous protrusion from the seat of articulation becoming progressively callous, and lastly a substance equally firm with the bone itself. They do not invariably constitute lameness upon their first appearance, but it soon follows a course of hard or regular work. Blistering first, and firing afterwards, was the practice of farriers of the old school, which it is not known has undergone any change with veterinarians of the new.

BOLTING

.—When a fox, laying at earth, has been dug to, and, upon the approach of the spade, the terrier, or the person attempting to take him, makes a sudden spring, and goes off, he is then said to have bolted; when, of course, the chase is continued with the hounds. The term is also applicable {81} to a rabbit from its burrow, or the badger from his earth.

BORING

;—one of the former humane operations in farriery for what is now called a lameness, then termed a wrench in the shoulder: it consisted in making a small orifice, or superficial incision, through the integument near the part affected: into this is insinuated a small tube or pipe; by the operator's breath through which the part is inflated, directly in the way a butcher swells his veal: a flat piece of iron, of small dimensions, is then introduced between the ribs and the shoulder in different directions, to produce some effect hitherto unexplained, and never understood. The seeming cruelty, and evident uncertainty, of the operation, has long since buried it in oblivion, at least with scientific practitioners; and it is very little seen or heard of, except amongst the rustic Vulcans in remote corners of the kingdom.

BOTTS

—are differently described by different writers; a certain proof many of them wrote more from theory, copy, and hearsay, than from attentive practice, or personal observation. Some have observed, they were of one shape; a second, of another; a third has said their seat was invariably upon one particular part; but the present Author has told you, in his former Works, and now repeats the fact, that they are equally inhabitants of the stomach before, {82} as they are of the rectum behind; and are as constantly found in the former after the death of the subject, as they are seen adhering to the sphincter of the rectum during his life; and that horses, who have fallen victims to the ravages of these destructive diminutives, had both the stomach and rectum loaded with numbers in a degree to be fairly concluded incredible, unless the proof had been personally confirmed by sight and individual conviction. The mode by which they are conveyed into the body (or how they are engendered there) may possibly long continue a matter of conjecture and ambiguity: Not so with the effect; when there, they soon continue to increase, and to occasion constant disquietude; sometimes violent pain. A horse labouring under their persecuting pinchings, is frequently eating, and without appetite, in a hope of relieving himself from the gnawing sensations within: he is generally rough in the coat, low in flesh, depressed in the stable, and not elated when out. Various remedies are in use; but mercurial physic is the only certain mode of extirpation.

BOWEL-GALLED

—is a laceration occasioned by the tightness and heat, or friction, of the girths, just behind the elbows of the fore legs, and is soon hardened and obliterated by two or three applications of a soft sponge, impregnated with common vinegar.

BOWLS

—is a game played upon a fine smooth grassy surface, either square, circular, or oblong, used solely for the purpose, and called a BOWLING-GREEN. The party may consist of two, four, six, or eight, and is generally chosen alternately, after tossing up a coin to decide who shall have the first choice. The sides being selected, each player has two bowls, which bowls have numerical figures, thereby ascertaining to whom they belong. The leader sends off a smaller bowl, called the jack, to what distance he pleases, it being (by the toss) his privilege so to do: this he follows with his first bowl, getting as near the jack as possible: he is then followed by one of the adverse party, the partner of the first following, and so in rotation till all the bowls are played; when as many of the bowls, on either side, as are nearer to the jack than the nearest on the opposite side, so many do the successful party score that time toward the game, and so on in succession, till one side or the other have won the match. Sometimes great disappointment happens in the play, when a ball laying very near the jack, is removed to a distance by the hit of an adversary's bowl, which remains nearer the jack than the bowl it has driven away; this is called a rub, and gave rise to the long-standing adage, "he that plays at bowls, must expect rubs."

BRAN

—would not have been entitled to notice in a work of this kind, had it not been in a certain {84} degree of conditional use with horses of different descriptions, in sickness as well as in health. Bran is an article almost generally known to be the coarser part of the skin or covering of the grain called wheat, from the body of which flour is manufactured, and bread made. With some people (particularly in the country parts of the kingdom, who are desirous of keeping their horses at little expence) bran constitutes a principal part of their food; in consequence of which, it becomes necessary to advert concisely to its known effects. From its nutritive property having been taken away, it contains little more than the means of distending the frame, without the generative quality of enriching the blood, or contributing to the formation of flesh. Not calculated to become a primary object of support, it may in some ways be brought into use as a collateral of utility. Horses belonging to bakers and mealmen, who have been principally subsisted upon this article, with the addition of a few split beans, (or peas,) have become pursive and thick-winded; then asthmatic; lastly, dull, heavy, and inactive; dying at nine or ten years old; when a large ball, or mealy concretion, (of different sizes in different subjects,) has been found in the stomach or intestinal canal, of a most impenetrable hardness, to the weight of ten or twelve pounds. Though not proper for food in its dry state, it is a most useful article in mashes with malt, to disunite and prevent the satiating richness of that article {85} alone; or to assist in common mashes with oats, (when a horse is in physic,) as well as to incorporate with a proper impregnation of honey in the mashes for colds during the severity of the winter season.

BREAKING the Herd

—is the ceremony of singling out a deer (either stag or hind) from the herd for the chase, which is thus performed with His Majesty's establishment in Windsor Forest. A survey being made of the herd, and the particular deer fixed on for separation, the huntsmen, assisted by one of the yeomen prickers, ride at a hunting rate, gallop directly into the herd, continuing so to do (as the herd divide) at the particular part to which the deer intended to be singled out continues to adhere. This ceremony is sometimes a very tedious business to the men, as well {86} as to the horses, as it is no uncommon thing, when they have detached, or reduced a divided part of the herd to a leash or two brace, (amongst which is the particular deer wanted,) for that number to make a circle of ten, fifteen, or even twenty miles, before the riders, with all their energy, can disunite them more than to a single brace, and not at all to a single deer. When this is effected, the hounds, who are in waiting at some distance, under the six remaining YEOMEN PRICKERS, are capped forward, and laid upon the scent; when the brace finding themselves pursued, soon divide, under the impression of individual safety; and the selected deer being thus completely singled out, the chase goes on, and continues till the deer is taken; unless, after a pursuit of proper length, for the sport of the day, he should regain the herd, where he is then permitted to remain, and the hounds are drawn off: but if it is either an old hind, or a calf destined to death, for the purpose of blooding the hounds, a repetition of the original ceremony of separation takes place, when which is effected, the chase is immediately renewed till the object of blood is attained.

BREAKING the Deer

—is the act of cutting open the deer after the chase, that the purchased perquisites of blood and garbage may go to the hounds. It is also the term for cutting up and dressing the fallow deer called BUCKS and DOES.

BREAST-PLATE

,—an article in horse furniture of great utility with light carcased horses, who very frequently, in both hunting and racing, run through their girths. It is made of either spring web or soft leather, as most agreeable to taste or fancy, and is fastened by buckles to small loops screwed to the tree of the saddle, just under the upper saddle-flap behind the withers of the horse; from whence the two parts divide transversely, and one passes down each shoulder to the point of the breast, where they are united to a strong strap, having holes, a buckle and loop, through which loop one of the girths is passed when the saddle is put on, and being thus fixed, it is considered almost an impossibility that any alteration can take place in its situation, but by the manual assistance of master or groom.

BREEDING

—is the production of COLTS in a stud principally or solely kept for that purpose. The methods of bringing up colts vary according to the purpose for which they are intended, whether for the turf, field, draft, or road. The breeders of opulent magnitude in the northern counties, most celebrated for the breed of horses in Britain, are too well skilled in the practical part to require the least aid from theoretic instruction. They are well convinced, by the unerring principle of well-founded experience, that sound sires, well shaped dams, good summer care, and winter keep, are {88} the means (and the only means) to insure well-grown, strong and valuable stock for any of the before mentioned purposes to which they are afterwards to become appropriate.

BRIDLE

,—the well-known article by which we are enabled to ride, guide and regulate the speed and action of the most noble, spirited, powerful and valuable animal in the creation. They are of different kinds, as most applicable to the mouth and temper of the horse; consisting of snaffles, Pelhams, Hard-and-sharps, Weymouths, &c. There are also others of different constructions; but as they appertain principally to the MILITARY MANEGE and the RIDING-HOUSE, a minute description would afford neither use or entertainment to the sporting world, for whom this Work is more immediately intended.

BRIDLE-HAND

.—The left is so called, in contra-distinction to the right, which, in racing, is termed the whip; and in military evolutions with cavalry, called the sword hand. Those who are deemed good sportsmen, or complete horsemen, manage the reins with equal dexterity, and one hand is generally as much in use as the other.

BROKEN WIND

—remains in its long-standing state of professional ambiguity; for, notwithstanding frequent dissections must have afforded {89} every assistance to earnest investigation, yet no authenticated, well-established opinion has transpired, sufficiently attracting or corroborative to fix a criterion upon which scientific or public faith seem inclined to rely. Since the appearance of "The Gentleman's Stable Directory," (about fourteen years since,) a great variety of veterinary writers, and veterinary practitioners, have emerged from obscurity in the metropolis, as well as in different parts of the kingdom. One has defined broken wind to be "an inflammation, which continuing a length of time, throws a quantity of extravasated blood into the windpipe, where it occasions a kind of roaring": this was the opinion of an eminent veterinarian, delivered upon a horse cause tried before Lord Kenyon in the court of King's Bench. In this sublime description there certainly appears no brilliant or satisfactory elucidation. A recent writer says, "Broken wind is a disorder that a horse is subject to when he is suffered to stand too long in the stable without exercise; by which means he contracts gross and thick humours in such abundance, that, adhering to the hollow parts of his lungs, they stop his windpipe." So much for the "sublime and beautiful." A third attributes it to "a relaxation or rupture of the phrenic nerves, which cause the motions of the diaphragm." A fourth supposes "the disease to proceed from a morbid or obstructed state of the glands, and membranes of the head and throat, the enlargement of which {90} prevents a free passage to the wind." Doctor Darwin, speaking of humoural asthma, attributes it to "a congestion of lymph in the air cells of the lungs, from defective absorption."

BROOD

,—a word almost indiscriminately used for the young of any fowl. There is, however, a much nicer and more sporting-like distinction. To speak properly, we say, a brood of ducks, a clutch {91} of chickens, a setting of gulls, a covey of partridges, and a nide of pheasants.

BROOD MARE

—is a mare kept solely for the purpose of breeding colts, and put to no other use whatever.

BROW ANTLER

—the first branch from the beam in the head of a stag.

BUCK

—the male of the fallow deer. In his first year he is called a fawn; he is then a pricket; and lastly A BUCK. In colour they are mottled, sandy, or a deep dingy brown, approaching to black. The males have horns; the does none. Buck venison is very superior to doe; and when well fatted, sells from three to four guineas each haunch. The season for it in the highest perfection is from June to September.

BULL DOG

.—A bull dog, though inoffensive and harmless when properly domesticated, forms, to the eye of timidity, a most terrific appearance: the doubtful and designing leer of the eye, the tiger-like shortness of the head, the under-hung jaw, the wideness of the forehead, the width of the skull, the distension of the nostrils, and the almost constant sight of the teeth, hold forth a very emphatic specimen of the power they possess, when that power is angrily brought into action. The breed is by no means so numerous as formerly, in consequence of the gradual decline of bull-baiting, and the great number taken abroad, for many of which very great prices were obtained. The natural ferocity, strength, and thirst for blood, in this animal, rendered them a formidable nuisance in their unrestrained state, and they are now seldom seen at their full liberty, either in town or country; the owners, from a proper fear of the law, finding it more prudent to keep them properly confined.

BULL-BAITING

—was formerly not merely a pleasing pursuit, but an extatic diversion, of the most unfeeling, and least humane, part of the very lowest, and most abandoned, orders of the people. To such a pitch of prevalence had it arrived in some particular parts, and was so much considered to give additional callosity to the minds of its cruel and inconsiderate abettors, that the more polished and humane classes of society made strong and repeated efforts for its total abolition, by endeavouring to obtain an act of the Legislature for that purpose; which, however, unluckily failed of the intentional effect; for the bill being rejected by a very trifling majority in the House of Commons, it left the sport at the full liberty of every subject to enjoy, who is not restrained by any more humane, sublime and manly sensations of his own, prompting him to believe it "more honoured in the breach than the observance." The towns of Stamford, in Lincolnshire, and Wokingham, in Berkshire, are now, perhaps, the only places of any note where the sport (as it is called) is obstinately persevered in, or enthusiastically and annually repeated by the clamours of those unfeeling advocates for custom, who, in the language of Shylock, claim "it as a right, and will not be deprived of it."

BULL RUNNING

—is a pursuit of the bull in a way no less cruel and disgraceful to the humanity of this enlightened country than what has been before described. By custom in the manor of Tutbury, in Staffordshire, as mentioned at almost the head of the last article, a bull was given by the prior to the minstrels. After undergoing the torture of having his horns cut off, his ears and tail cropped and docked to the very stump, his nostrils filled with pepper, and his body besmeared with soap, he was turned out in such a pitiable state to be hunted, (this was called bull running;) and when taken, or held long enough to pull off some of his hair, he was then fastened to the stake, and baited. To the great honour, however, of the Duke of Devonshire, (Steward of Tutbury,) and not less so of the people who petitioned against it, the BULL RUNNING at Tutbury was entirely abolished in the year 1778.

BURROWS

,—are the holes or cavities in the earth of a rabbit warren, where they bring and breed up their young, as well as where they instantly retire to for safety, upon the approach of danger.

CADE

—was a horse of the best blood, speed, and bottom, ever bred in the kingdom. He was foaled in 1734; got by the Godolphin Arabian; dam (Roxana) by the Bald Galloway. He beat most horses of his time, and was afterwards, as a STALLION, the sire of Changeling, Matchem, Young Cade, Mercury, Merryman, Cadormus, Bold, Bywell Tom, Victim, Turpin, and a long list of et ceteras; through the channels of whose different progenies his blood is to be found in almost every stud of celebrity from one extremity of the kingdom to the other.

CADENCE

,—divested of its mere technical idea in the manege, is, in horsemanship, what time is in music, uniformity in manners, or consistency in conduct: a horse complete in his cadence, is to be considered perfect in his action.

CALKING, or Corking

,—is the projecting part erroneously formed at the heels of horse-shoes in general, particularly in frosty weather; at which time their utility may be admitted, and, in fact, cannot be done without, where horses are in frequent use. These calkings, however, cannot be justified upon any scientific principle whatever, without {103} chance of accident to the rider, and of lameness to the horse; for upon level ground the horse cannot move but in a distorted motion; and if the prominence in the shoe comes into immediate contact with a rolling-stone, or a projecting part in the pavement, ligamentary lameness probably ensues. If it is found necessary to bring them into use at all, even in frosty weather, both heels should be equally raised, as there will be much less danger in a double than a single calking.

CALOMEL

—is a medical article, well known by this name as the mildest preparation of mercury: it is in general use in private practice, and a certain specific for the obliteration of worms in HORSES, when added in proper proportions to the ingredients for purging-balls.

CAMPHIRE

—is a vegetable concrete, unctuous to the touch, with a fragrant smell, somewhat like that of rosemary, and a bitter pungent taste, accompanied with a sense of coolness on the tongue. It is volatile, like essential oils, but without their acrimony: it burns in water; it receives no empyreumatic impressions; nor does it suffer any resolution from any degree of fire, to which it can be exposed in close vessels, though readily combustible in the open air. Camphire is known to be good, if, when it is put upon hot bread, it becomes moist; if dry, it is bad. It should be kept in a glass stopper {104} bottle, or close tied in a bladder, not more to prevent it from losing its property, than to prevent the loss of the whole by exhalation. Used as a medicine, internally or externally, it has a narcotic effect, and greatly diminishes the irritability of the system; as an external, it is singularly useful, particularly in weakness, rheumatic pains, or spasmodic affections.

CAMPHORATED SPIRITS

—is a prescription standing in the Dispensatory of the London College of Physicians, and is thus prepared. "Take of camphor two ounces; rectified spirit of wine, one quart; shake frequently till the camphor is dissolved." It is a very useful embrocation in slight strains, as well as to prevent the breaking of chilblains in the winter season.

CAMOMILE.

—The flowers are so useful in fomentations, that no good sportsman in the country should ever be without them in the house.

CANKER

,—a diseased state of the foot of a horse, originating in a neglected thrush, which having acquired a corrosive property by its retention, continues to rot and destroy the surrounding parts, till, by a judicious separation of the fungus from the sound parts, fresh granulations may be promoted, and the cure confirmed.

CANKER

—in the ear of a dog, is mostly occasioned by injury from bushes in beating or hunting covert, and might be easily cured at first with a little Friar's balsam, or tincture of myrrh: this being omitted, a rigid eschar forms upon the surface, when which is separated by accident (as it repeatedly is) it leaves the wound larger than before. A very slight touch with the butter of antimony, is the surest and best mode of destroying the foundation of inveteracy, and healing the wound.

CANKER

—in the mouth of a horse, invariably proceeds from an injury sustained from severe and improper jerks of the bridle by the passion and petulance of the rider: in the seat of the wound or laceration, is formed a sort of insensible slough, which either a little burnt alum, or borax powdered fine, and sprinkled upon the surface, will soon separate, and bring away: the part will afterwards promote its own cure.

CANTHARIDES

.—Spanish flies, the principal ingredient in every composition prepared for the purpose of blistering; some of which are in the form of ointments; others, less powerful, are applied as liquids, and called liquid blisters.

CAPARISON

—is mostly used as a military term, appertaining to cavalry regiments, and applicable to the apparatus of every individual; the {106} saddle, bridle, housings, holsters, and trappings, of every distinction.

CALF

—is the male produce of the stag and hind: they are the largest of the species in England, and known in the aggregate by the general appellation of RED DEER; these are mostly the natives of forests and chaces, (as Windsor and the New Forests, Sherwood, Enfield Chace, &c.) in contra-distinction to fallow deer, bred in parks, and called BUCK and DOE; their produce a fawn.

CALLS

—are instruments for imitating the call of partridges and quails; some of which are so admirably executed, that, with those who are adepts in the execution of the plan, and the management of the nets, it becomes a pleasing, if not a profitable, amusement.

CAPON

;—a young cock divested of his testes (by incision and separation) so soon as he is large enough for the operation: the best time is at about three or four months old. The only useful intent is to acquire additional size and growth, as capons are frequently killed of seven, eight, and even nine pounds weight.

CARP

—are esteemed one of the richest fresh water fish we have in the kingdom: they are the principal stock of park canals and manor ponds, {107} to the owners of which they afford considerable profit; particularly near populous cities, where they can be disposed of to advantage at the season when such ponds are drawn, and new stocked with stores. Much success depends upon the nature of the soil where the pond is situate: if in a soft marley kind of earth, or warm clay, impregnated with hazel earth, and a muddy bottom, they thrive beyond expectation; but upon a dead, black, moory gravel, or a flinty, chalky bottom, they are sterile beyond description, in both growth and propagation. They are a fish so exceedingly shy, (or so exceedingly cunning,) that they afford very little success to the angler, who ought to be one of the most patient adventurers that ever embarked in sporting speculation. They are but little found in running streams or rivers, notwithstanding very large quantities of small stores are constantly thrown in from the reservoirs and breeding ponds of gentlemen living in the vicinity of such rivers, not more to get rid of their own superflux, than to promote a friendly supply for the accommodation of their neighbours. In large ponds, well stocked, the poachers are never deficient in means of procuring themselves a share: this they effect by forming a paste of crumbled bread, flour, and treacle, to which they add some of the coculus indicus (an Indian berry) in powder: this being well incorporated, and thrown into the pond in various parts, about the size of common baits, in the latter part {108} of the evening, the fish will be found at daylight in the morning floating upon the surface in a state of stupefaction, when they are taken out with the hand close to the bank without the least difficulty. This is a business carried on to a wonderful extent for thirty and forty miles round London, in which circle the system of supply is as regularly conducted as the first commercial concern in the metropolis; as will be seen when we come to a more minute description of the art under the head Poaching.

CARMINATIVES

—are all such warm aromatic seeds or medicines as expel wind, amongst which may be justly ranked most of the spices; likewise aniseed, carraways, cardamoms, ginger, grains of paradise, &c. They are excellent aids in the flatulent disorders of horses; but should not, if possible, have been too long in the shop, as some of them lose their property by long keeping.

CARROTS—

are, after the fair experiments of late years, become an article of very considerable consumption, as a collateral kind of food for the support of horses employed in agriculture. The most candid attention, and minute observation, at length admits, that horses having a proportion of carrots, washed, cleaned, dried, and cut either alone, or mixed with the barn chaff, do their work as well, look as firm in their flesh, and fine in their {109} coat, as those who are kept upon corn, chaff, and hay. Although their utility in this way cannot be denied, yet it must be remembered, they are not sufficiently nutritious for horses in hard or expeditious work upon the public and posting roads; they require a more firm, substantial support: for horses in easy, slow, and moderate work, they answer well, incorporated with other articles; or even alone, in small quantities; but if given too largely, they attenuate the blood, and impoverish the frame.

CART HORSES

.—The horses so called are principally the horses employed in drawing farmers' waggons, carts, and the plough; as well as the infinity employed with waggons upon the turnpike road, in the conveyance of articles in trade from one part of the kingdom to another. The incredible number supported in the metropolis, and its environs, by the merchants, breweries, coal merchants, carmen, and the proprietors of wharfs, exceed the utmost conception of those not accustomed to such prospects, or to such calculations. Of cart horses this kingdom has to boast different kinds, and those kinds are most judiciously appropriated to the different work, and different countries, for which they seem to be more particularly or individually adapted. Great pains have been taken, and no expence spared, to improve this peculiar and most useful breed of horses to the utmost {110} possible pitch of perfection. The sorts mostly in use, are the large heavy blacks, for which Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, and the midland counties, are the most remarkable; the little stout, uniform punches from Suffolk; and some of the strong, hardy sturdies from Clydesdale, in North Britain. The former of the three sorts, when well shaped, and uniform, constitute as perfect beauties to the contemplative eye of the patriotic agriculturist, as the best bred blood horses can possibly do to the most enthusiastic admirer of the turf. From these midland blacks of the largest size, strength, and uniformity, are selected all the capital stock of the most opulent firms and manufactories in and round the metropolis. Those one degree inferior in height, strength, uniformity, and price, constitute the bell teams of the farmers in Berkshire, Hants, and Wilts; at the principal market towns of which, as Reading, Wallingford, Abingdon, Basingstoke, Alton, Alresford, Winchester, &c. may be seen some of the strongest, handsomest and finest teams of draft horses in the kingdom without exception.

CASTING NET

.—In a half extended form, (when in part suspended from the ground, and resting on the leads fixed to its bottom,) it resembles a bell in its shape; but when cast in the water, or spread on the ground, it constitutes a complete circle. They are made of different dimensions; and so constructed, as to be completely grasped by the right and left hand, having the centre of the net spread over the left shoulder; when, by a sudden exertion, (in which there must be great expertness,) the net is so cast as to fall upon the water in its utmost circular extent; where sinking with all possible expedition, by the weight of the lead affixed to its edges, which now becoming the bottom, incloses within it all the fish in the space so covered, and from whence no one can escape. To the centre of the net is fixed a line of ten or twelve feet long, which line, in throwing (or casting) the net, is of course extended, the extremity being previously fastened to the wrist: when the leads have {113} reached the bottom of the water, and rest on the ground, the fish rise into the bell part of the net; then the person having the line in hand begins to draw the net gently to land; in doing which, the edges approach each other at bottom, where there are tucks to receive the fish; and those, particularly roach, perch, and gudgeons, are sometimes caught in great abundance. The person casting the net should use a round frock, or a jacket without buttons; for want of using which precaution, many a sportsman of this description has received a complete and dangerous ducking, to which he did not seem to think himself fully entitled.

CASTING the Hair

;—an almost obsolete (or provincial) term for a horse's shedding his coat.

CASTRATION

—is the loss of the testicles by extirpation, which requires a very nice eye, and steady hand, in the operator: for, although it has, in general, been performed by Vulcanians of the inferior order, who are strangers to the delicate structure and formation of the parts, yet it is now to be anxiously hoped, we are fast emerging from former ignorance, and that we shall become as expert and dexterous in this art (if not so famous) as the Italians. There are two modes of operation; one of those not of long standing: the original manner of operating was by first casting the horse upon a bed of straw, properly prepared for the {114} purpose; then securing the testes by bandage, and making an incision longitudinally through the scrotum; laying bare the testicle, and, after making firm a waxed thread around the spermatic cord, the testicle was then extracted by the knife, and the farther effusion of blood prevented by the hot iron, or actual cautery. This is the method still in use in most parts of the kingdom, and most probably where the greater number of colts are bred; but in the present increase of veterinarians, some verification of the old adage, "New lords, new laws," must be expected; and they proceed in a different way.

CATARACT

,—the technical term for a defect of the eye, to which no particular cause of origin has been yet decisively ascertained. The faculty define it, "an opacity of the crystalline humour of the eye, which prevents the rays of light passing to the retina, and of course preventing vision." Doctor Hunter says, "it is when an inflammation in {116} the coat of the crystalline humour hath rendered it opaque." But Mr. St. Yves seems to be of opinion that the crystalline humour swells. He also divides the cataract into the true, the doubtful, and false: the true he subdivides again into three; the doubtful into four; and the false into the glaucoma, and the shaking cataract. All this division and sub-division seems little regarded even by the most curious and indefatigable in anatomical researches; particularly as it is much to be regretted, that, with every professional and energetic endeavour, no medicines, external or internal, have ever been discovered, that are known certainly capable of removing this disorder. In the human frame, methods of operating on the crystalline humour were successfully practised by Sharp, Daviel, and others: little, however, is to be expected with the horse. In such case, perhaps, it may be "better to bear those ills we have, than venture upon those we know not of."

CATHARTICS

—are synonimous with purgatives, and include all medicines of that description.

CAUSTICS

—are medicines which externally constitute a destruction of the texture (or superficies) of the parts to which they are applied. Caustics are of different kinds, and of various powers, according to the reduction, or extirpation, for which they are intended. The actual cautery, {117} or red-hot iron, is used in firing, as well as for the farther prevention of sand-cracks already broke out. The antimonial caustic, or butter of antimony, (in judicious hands), is a complete and perfect cure for poll evil, fistula, quittor, and canker in the foot. Lunar caustic is an admirable counteraction to warts, and fast-shooting fungus. Red precipitate is an excellent substitute, when so much strength is not required; few wounds in horses can be brought to a favourable state of cicatrization without it.

CAVESON

—is an article used in the breaking of colts, as well as in the manege: it consists of a semi-circle, of iron or blocked tin, passing round the nose, about five inches above the nostrils, having three hinges or joints, concave on the inside, and covered with leather, list, or woollen cloth. This has three swivel rings, one in the center of the noseband, and one on each side; to all or either of which the reins are affixed, that he may be accustomed, in the ring, to pace either to the right or left. The caveson is mounted with a headstall, somewhat similar to the headstall of a bridle: and to the rings on each side the caveson, are straps long enough to be buckled to the sides of the saddle, that his head may be kept in a proper position (when bearing upon the colt's bit) to render him pliable, and to insure a good mouth.

CHACE

.—A chace is, in general acceptation, considered a receptacle for game, interspersed with fern, thickets, underwood, and probably with small coverts, for its preservation. It is understood to be superior to a park, but inferior to a forest, having none of those laws for its protection. It is not unfrequently the property of a subject, and is then protected by its own manorial rights and privileges. Chaces there are, also, the property of the Crown; and those are generally regulated by the FOREST LAWS, as is the case with Cranbourne Chace, situate in Windsor Forest.

CHASE

.—The chase, as well as other pleasures of equal attraction, has had its most inveterate opponents, as well as its equally determined devotees. Various and vehement have been the declamations against it; equally numerous, and equally energetic, have been the expostulations in its defence. That it was practised, and enthusiastically enjoyed, by the ancients, as perseveringly pursued by the moderns, and will be continued to the end of time, (in opposition to every species of puritanical rigidity,) will not admit of the least contrariety in opinion. The CHASE, taken in a general point of view, includes the chase of every description, and implies a pursuit of GAME (or vermin) found in a state of natural liberty, with a body (called a pack) of hounds, who follow the object, whatever it may be, by the scent left on the ground, (from which an {119} effluvia exhales,) so soon as the game thus found may have broke from their view. Upon the subject of scent, its origin, its duration, and its evaporation, innumerable conjectures have been sported by literary theorists; in opposition to the animadversion upon which, much more might be introduced; but as it must unavoidably terminate, like all other matters of hypothesis, to which no criterion of certainty can be produced, very little entertainment, and no positive information, can be derived from the investigation.

CHALLENGE

—is a term used for the first tongue of a hound after throwing into covert, to draw either for fox, or an out-lying deer. Upon the challenge of a single hound, if he is staunch, and to be relied on, a general silence ensues; ears are all open for a repetition, and every eye for a view; the huntsman (who well knows how far to depend upon the truth of the declaration) instantly encourages the pack to the promised point, by "hark to Gamboy!" "hark to Galloper!" or whatever may be the name of the favourite hound so to be relied on. The hounds by this means are immediately rallied to the precise spot, and ready to go off in a body with their game, as a lucky find frequently follows an unexpected challenge; more particularly in the present fashion of going to covert, at a time of day when our predecessors of only one generation past used to return.

CHAFFING

,—so called, is a loss of hair, and laceration of the skin, by the pad of the saddle having got too hard in the stuffing from constant use, and for want of timely circumspection. It is also frequently occasioned by the extreme heat and {122} friction, in continuing to travel very long stages in the hotter months, without more frequent relief or rest to the horse. This is a very common fault, or act of indiscretion, with the mechanical part of the community; who possessing rather too much of the spirit of trade, anxiously endeavour (in the extent of their sagacity) to do much more, in less time, than nature ever intended, by humanely travelling a horse two stages instead of one, thereby saving most arithmetically one half the expence, upon the city principle of Old Philpot, that "a penny saved, is a penny got."

CHARGE

—was a favourite part of former practice in farriery, and consisted of compositions in the form of an adhesive mass, which being plastered upon the part afflicted, was there left to act as a corroborant, an emollient, a discutient, a repellent, or, in fact, to effect any purpose intended, or that the case might require. These preparations were applied in different states, and were denominated hot or cold charges, according to the mode in which they were laid on. As, however, no great proofs of their efficacy were ever established, or any authenticated records of their utility known, they seem to have glided out of modern practice, and been totally superseded by the more rational introduction of penetrative stimulants, in fomentations, embrocations, &c. which come into more immediate contact with the affected parts, where injury has been sustained.

CHEST

—is the part of a horse comprehended in the side view, from his wither to the bottom of his ribs near the elbow, at the upper part of the fore arm; and is perfectly understood, when we {124} say, "that horse is well let down, and deep in the chest." If, in addition to this, he is "round in the barrel," he may then be said to have a good carcase. To judge well of the chest, it is necessary to come before, and take a front view, if which is broad, and the horse stands wide and firm, it is a proof of strength; but if narrow in the breast, (alias the chest,) he will not only be very likely to cut before, but to become chest-foundered, if put to any extraordinary exertions.

CHEST-FOUNDERING

,—a debility in the shoulders, chest and fore-quarters of a horse, seemingly less understood, and certainly less explained hitherto, than any one disorder or defect to which the horse is incident. Those who have written upon this subject, evidently echo each other; as they literally and individually say, "it proceeds from hard labour, whereby the horse becomes surfeited; so that, upon the whole, it is no more than a severe cold, and is to be managed accordingly." These are, in fact, the very words of Bracken, who precedes it with this remark: "Most authors agree it is so;" giving no opinion of his own, beyond its originating in a "severe cold," and is to be "managed accordingly." He says, "the signs are a staring coat, and heaving of the flanks more than common." That a chest-foundered horse may happen to have a staring coat, or a heaving of the flanks, from some different or remote cause, cannot be denied; {125} but that either of them are diagnostic symptoms of chest-founder, no scientific practitioner will ever admit.

CHILDERS

—was distinguished from four others in succession of the same name, by the appellation of the Devonshire, or Flying Childers, having been the fleetest horse ever bred or trained in this kingdom, and said to have ran a mile in a minute. The fact, however, was not so; he went the fourth {127} of a mile at the rate of a mile in a minute, and beat every horse of his time with ease. He was bred by Mr. Childers; was foaled in 1715; and got by Darley's Arabian, dam (Betty Leedes) by Careless. He covered as a stallion, and was sire of Firetail, Blacklegs, Second, Plaistow, Snip, and Commoner; all good runners, particularly the first three; also Blaze, Winall, and Spanking Roger; horses of some note; as well as Lord W. Manners's Poppet, (an extraordinary runner at five years old,) Steady, Fleece'em, &c. He covered but very few mares, except the Duke of Devonshire's.

CHOLIC

.—The disorder so called in horses, is properly divided into two kinds, and should be carefully attended to in the attack, before medicines are administered in one, which might have been more applicable in the other. One species of cholic (which is the most common) originates in a retention of confined air, from having been supplied with too much flatulent provender, or too much water, at an improper time. This disorder, in general, soon submits to warm, cordial, anodyne medicines, accompanied by friction and flank rubbing; seldom terminating in death, though always accompanied with symptoms of danger. The other is produced by hardened fæces plugging up the intestinal canal, and frequently proves fatal: the least delay is dangerous, and too much expedition cannot be used to obtain relief. In the "Gentleman's Stable Directory," they will be found distinctly described, and the mode of cure explained.

CLICKET

—is the sporting term for the act of COPULATION with both HARES and FOXES. During the first warm weeks in February, when the males and females seek each other, they are then said to be CLICKETTING; or that at this particular season they go to CLICKET. After conception, they are said to be knit; when the DOE HARE or VIXEN FOX will make the most powerful and persevering efforts before the hounds to save their lives. Jack hares and DOG FOXES at this season generally fly their country, and lead long chases. {129}

CLYSTERS

—are, in a variety of cases, and upon many emergencies, so truly and so expeditiously useful, (without the least danger of being injurious,) that their salutary effects cannot be too well known, or too generally understood. They are differently prepared, from a decoction of the aromatic garden herbs, as marshmallows, camomile flowers, and wormwood, gruel, a handful of salt, and half a pint of oil; or, indeed, from any of the prescriptions with which books upon physic and farriery are generally loaded. When prepared, and of a proper warmth, they are gently conveyed into the body through a wooden pipe, to which is fixed a large bullock's bladder, containing the clyster to be injected. The pipe having been previously moistened upon the surface, with either sweet oil or lard, is then insinuated within the sphincter of the anus; when which is effected, the string hanging from the bladder (and to the other end of which the cork is annexed, that plugs up the internal mouth of the pipe confined in the bladder) is steadily pulled with the right hand, while the left is employed in keeping the pipe in its proper situation, and supporting the bladder with its contents: upon the cork's being withdrawn, and a free passage made for the clyster, the hands are pressed moderately, and in motion upon the bladder, so as to force the whole into the body; when which is done, the pipe is gently taken away, and the effect of course is waited for, or repeated, if necessary. The {130} mild and advantageous mode of obtaining relief by clysters, is greatly preferable to the rough old method of extracting the dung from the rectum by introducing the hand, which is not only producing unnecessary pain to the patient, but very frequently of exciting inflammation. Every sportsman of experience must know, that, upon all emergencies, in fever, cholic, strangury, inflammation of the lungs or kidnies, a clyster may be so soon prepared, and so soon administered, (particularly in remote situations in the country,) that no gentleman, anxious for the safety and preservation of his stud or stock, should be without such articles as would enable him to adopt some extemporaneous means of relief, till assistance (which is sometimes at a great distance) could be obtained.

COAT

.—The coat of a horse (which the hair is called) is not only an object of sporting exultation when the horse is in fine condition, but, to the judicious and penetrating eye, is in a great degree indicative of the state of health. Nothing will so soon demonstrate the ability, the care and attention of the GROOM, as the coat of his horse. If the coat is observed to become suddenly rough, standing different ways, with a dusty hue underneath, and the hair to look harsh and bristly upon the surface, the blood is then sizey, and tending to an unhealthy state; the porous system has been collapsed by some chilling exposure to wet or cold; the integument {131} acquires a tightness and rigidity, which, if not relieved, soon displays itself in some slight degree of disease: this may, in general, be prevented, by taking away blood, and proceeding upon a short course of antimonial alteratives.

COCKING

—was formerly a sport so exceedingly prevalent (from the great and perpetual variety it afforded in betting) that matches were constantly fighting between different counties, as well as opulent individuals, and at most of the horse-races in every part of the kingdom, for very considerable sums of money. This practice, however, like every other species of sporting, in the course of time, opened so great a field for villainy amongst the subordinates, who become unavoidably instrumental, (as feeders, setters-to, and assistants,) that, in addition to the incredible expence of breeding, walking, feeding, matching, removing and carrying cocks from one walk to another, collecting them when brought up to fight, injuries sustained upon their walks, consequent disappointments when taken up, with a long train of collateral considerations, have very much reduced both the sport and the breed in every part of England.

COCKNEY

—is the distinguished appellation by which those gentlemen are honoured, who, being natives of the Metropolis, are supposed never to have very far exceeded the vibrative limits of St. Paul's clock, or Bow bell. The term, however, well known as it is, would not have been entitled to a place in this collection, had it not been thought necessary to communicate to the sporting world, a derivation so very little known. A citizen of the above description making an excursion with his {133} son to the neighbourhood of Highgate, the lad (who had never before taken a journey of such magnitude and extent) happening to hear a horse neigh, (which was quite new to him,) hastily exclaimed, "How that horse barks!"—"Barks! you booby," replied the father; "Neighs! you mean. A dog barks; a horse neighs!" They had not proceeded far, when the youth, finding his ears assailed by the sudden crowing of a cock, was so fascinated with the shrill and unexpected sound, that he instantly attracted his companion's attention with, "Hark, father, how that cock neighs!" To which happy effusion of fancy, citizens will probably stand indebted for the name of cockney to the end of time.

COCK-FEEDER

—signifies a person whose occupation it is to collect, handle and feed a pen of cocks, to fight such main or match as may be made or agreed on, by those who deposit the battle money, and are called the MASTERS of the MATCH. These find or procure the cocks, of which the feeder takes charge; and to his judgment is submitted the entire management of selecting, rejecting, feeding, physicing, sweating, sparring, weighing, cutting out, (alias trimming,) and bringing his bag and cock to the pit; where, upon delivering it to the setter-to, his function ceases in respect to that particular cock, till death has sealed his disgrace, or success proclaimed his victory.

COCK-MATCH

;—an agreement and article entered into by opposite parties, to shew any number of cocks (as "twenty-one, thirty-one, or forty-one) on each side in the main and ten in the byes, to fight for ten guineas a battle, and fifty the odd." The cocks so agreed to be matched, are under the management of their different feeders till the day specified in the article for their being shewn and weighed; which day is, upon most occasions, the day but one preceding the day on which the main begins to be fought. This ceremony is attended to with the most scrupulous nicety on each side; every cock is weighed precisely to a quarter of an ounce; his colour described almost to a feather; his marks in the eye, the right and left norrel, the in right and out left in the feet, are all taken down in writing with the same accuracy as the weight; the whole being entered in the match-bills to be produced, read, and compared, with the cocks as they are brought to pit at the commencement of every battle.

COCKPIT

,—a place appropriated entirely to the purpose of COCK-FIGHTING, for which it is erected; it is usually of an oblong or circular form, surrounded with seats, to which the spectators pay for admission; and in great mains, or subscription matches, the FEEDERS generally agree with the masters of the match to receive the whole of this door money, (equally divided between them,) as their compensation for the fortnight or three weeks they are engaged in feeding the cocks.

COCKPIT ROYAL

.—The cockpit royal is considered sanction sufficient for the diversion of COCK-FIGHTING in every part of the kingdom. It {138} is situate on the south side of St. James's Park, from which it has its entrance, and was erected in the reign of King Charles the Second, who, having been himself fond of the sport, is said to have frequently honoured it with his presence, when matches were made and fought amongst his nobles. It is the only place where long mains, and great SUBSCRIPTION MATCHES, are fought in the Metropolis; some of which are for considerable sums between opulent individuals, who procure their cocks from different parts of the country; and others (particularly the subscription matches) by many members on each side, who breed their cocks in distant counties, but fight them only in town; of which description many matches are annually fought during all the spring months, when both STAGS and COCKS are in the finest feather and highest perfection.

COCK'S WALK

—is the place to which a game chick is removed, from the place where he was bred, (and where he walked under his sire,) to the spot where he is to remain till taken up to fight; this is called his walk, of which he is the master, not walking under any other cock. They are commonly sent out to walk at six or seven months old, previous to which they have their combs and gills taken off, and are marked in the eyes, norrils, and feet. At this age they are called chickens; when turned of a year old, they are termed stags; and at two years old, COCKS.

COFFIN-BONE

.—This bone is situate at the lower extremity of the foot, deposited in the membranous mass with which the box (or coffin) of the hoof is lined, and is in nearly the shape of the hoof itself: in the centre of the coffin-bone is a concavity, {147} into which is inserted the inferior part of the coronary bone, supported by the nut bone behind: upon the superior part of the coronary bone (that is just above the line said to be "between hair and hoof") is lodged the lower part of the fetlock bone, its upper part articulating with the fetlock joint. Injuries are very frequently sustained by holes in the road, or cavities in the pavement, into which a part, or the whole, of the foot getting, ligamentary twists or distortions happen to the lower joints. Too much pains cannot be taken in accurately ascertaining the exact seat of lameness, particularly in these parts, as a great number of horses are annually blistered and fired by much too hastily, and upon parts where no lameness has ever been.

COFFIN-JOINT

,—the joint situate below the fetlock, and just above the union of hair and hoof; this is the part universally known by the term coffin-joint; but, in fact, it is not in reality so; for this being formed by the upper part of the coronet with the lower part of the fetlock-bone, leaves the whole coronary bone between the spot described and the coffin-bone. The coffin-joint is buried in the body of the hoof, and is formed by the convex junction of the coronary bone with the concave part of the coffin-bone, as explained in the article preceding.

COLD

.—A COLD is evidently occasioned by some sudden transition from heat to cold, a long exposure {148} to chilling rains, or a confined current of external air, through some partial or particular channel: it may be defined a species of disease derived from some one peculiar cause, to which there may be many probable points of termination, according to the constitution, or pre-disposition of the subject at the time of attack.

COLOUR

.—Strange notions have formerly prevailed, and much hypothetical writing and reasoning have been equally produced, to collect sufficient criterions to decide upon, for a proof that the strength and constitutional stamen of the horse depended as much or more upon his colour than his formation. Sound judgment, and rational reflection, would, however, induce a well-founded reason to believe, there is more of fancy or fallacy in such suggestion; and that the old maxim still stands upon firm ground, "a GOOD horse can't be of a bad colour."

COLLEGE VETERINARY

,—an equestrian establishment for the improvement of farriery: it is situate about a mile north-east of Tottenham-Court Road, at Camden Town, in the parish of St. Pancras, and will be explained more at large under the head, Veterinary College.

COLT

,—in the general sense, and immediate acceptation of the term, implies a produce from Horse and Mare, without adverting for the moment to either the masculine or the feminine gender; but in a more contracted point of view, (as well as in just and sporting-like phraseology,) it is meant to convey an unequivocal idea, that the produce being A COLT, is really so, that is a horse colt,) in contra-distinction to the opposite gender, invariably called a filly. The bone and growth of a colt depends greatly upon two circumstances: the first, his being foaled late or early; that is, early in April, or late in June; as well as the difference of {152} his being weaned in November or March. Although it is admitted that colts (in the first year termed foals) running with the dam during the winter, will afford greater probability of size, bone, and strength, yet it is not at all times it can be complied with, unless in studs, where brood mares are kept for that purpose only, and are left fallow (uncovered) for the season. When a mare has been covered with a foal at her foot, and is evidently in foal again, it should be an invariable rule to wean the foal in October or November, upon the palpable impossibility of giving suck to the one, without an impoverishment of the other. Whether the colt is, or is not, weaned in either of those months, he should be well kept, and have daily supplies of corn and hay, as well as proper stable, shed, or shelter from the inclemency of the winter season. Upon the liberal keep of the two first winters, his size, growth, strength, and bone, entirely depend, and must be particularly attended to, lest repentance come too late; for it must be held in remembrance, that if a colt is small at two years old, from having been stinted in keep, there is not one in a hundred ever attains to good size, by any additional exertions or expence, after the natural efforts for expansion have been so long retarded.

CONDITION

—is a word in frequent use with the sporting world, to express the state of a horse in respect to his health and external appearance. If low in flesh, rough in his coat, hollow above the eye, and depressed in his spirits, he is then said to be "very much out of condition." But, on the contrary, if full of good sound flesh, his skin loose {158} and pliable, with his coat soft and sleek, he is then said to be in "perfect condition to start," if for the TURF; fine condition to take the field, if a HUNTER; or, if a roadster, to be in good condition to undertake his journey. Horses too full of flesh or of blood, are said not to be in condition, because they are not fit for strong exertions without the danger of disease: brought into constant work in such state, they soon, as it is termed, "fall all to pieces;" that is, if they escape inflammation upon some of the various parts, morbidity soon displays itself, either in a swelling of the legs, cracked heels, bad eyes, defective wind, cutaneous eruptions, tumours, or in one of the many ills to which horses in this state will always be subject.

CONSTIPATION

—implies that state of the bowels, when, for want of the necessary secretion of mucus, their excrementitious contents acquire a degree of solidity bordering upon induration; the dung becomes too hard and adhesive, fœtid in effluvia, and dark or nearly black in appearance. A horse in such state should not be long neglected; inflammatory cholic and consequent danger may ensue; or an indurated mass may be formed in the intestinal canal, which no medicine may have the power to move in time to prevent mortification. Too nice attention cannot be paid to a horse's regular evacuations: if the body is evidently foul, he should be proportionally physicked. Circumstances not rendering that perfectly convenient, opening mashes might be adopted, and continued nightly (or oftner) till the constipation is removed.

CONSUMPTION

.—A consumption is a disorder to which horses are very much subject, particularly the carriage horses of the great and opulent: these fall victims to the unmerciful ambition of nocturnal grandeur, in the four, five and six hours street-waiting in the most dreary nights of the most dreary winter. Consumptions originate in colds, which being ill managed or neglected, constitute an increasing viscidity of the blood; this preternatural consistence renders it more languid in its circulation; and it is, of course, proportionally impeded in its progress through the finer vessels of the {160} lungs. Here then obstructions are first formed; as these increase, the passages become impervious; the tubercles continue to enlarge, till the vessels are partially distended to their utmost extent, when inflammation takes place, and maturation follows. This stage completed, the tumours rupture; some probably heal by the efforts of nature, and others become corroding ulcers, laying the foundation of inevitable danger, and distant death. To a penetrative eye, and distinguishing hand, the predominant symptoms will be immediately found to exceed the traits and appearances of a common cold: the unequal and difficult respiration; the kind of half-suppressed, sore, hollow cough, (denoting an internal sensation of pain,) terminating in a sort of resigned moan; a constant desire to masticate hay, without any seeming enjoyment of it; a general heavy dulness, the palpable effect of conscious decay or debility; and a frequent looking to and after the person accustomed to superintend him, exciting reason to believe he may expect or hope for relief from the very hand from whence it has been usual to derive support.

CONVULSIONS

—are a spasmodic affection of the muscular parts of the body, occasioned by extreme pain acting upon the irritability of the nervous system; and generally proceed from cholic, inflammation of the kidnies, strangury, worms preying upon the internal coat of the stomach, a fullness of the vessels, and too great a flux of blood to the brain; as well as a variety of causes, many of which are, perhaps, very far beyond the utmost extent of human investigation. Whenever they come on, the scene becomes truly distressing; they may be considered almost invariably certain indications of approaching dissolution, instances being exceedingly rare of a horse's recovery.

COMPRESSION

—is a term meant to convey the idea of an injury sustained in the foot of a {162} horse from a contraction of the hoof, more particularly at the heel, by indiscreet management in the mode of shoeing: first, in forming the shoes too narrow, and giving them an improper internal curve at each heel; the injudiciously cutting away the bars of the foot, (formed by nature for its proper expansion;) the rasping away each side of the heel, to make the foot fit the shoe, already put on too small; all which is still more aggravated, by the equally infernal and equally invincible practice of fitting the shoe red-hot to the foot, in opposition to every argument and entreaty, thereby drying up and consuming the natural moisture of the internal or fleshy sole, at the moment of cauterizing and contracting the surface.

COOLERS

—are such medicines as, by their attenuating property, tend to divest the blood of its viscidity, and to counteract threatened inflammation. They are always useful in plethoric appearances: when a horse is evidently overloaded, and above himself in flesh, when the legs are full, round, and all the vessels are palpably distended, cooling medicines, and gentle exercise, are the direct means of obtaining relief. Bleeding should take the lead, followed by a course of diuretics, mild or strong, according to the size and strength of the subject. Nitre, incorporated with half its weight of gum Arabic in powder, and dissolved in the water, is an excellent article of this description.

CORNS

,—as they are called, would be much more properly denominated bruises, and are of infinite trouble to those who implicitly submit to the {164} Quixotic schemes and manual dexterity of the SMITH; who, with a secundum artem expedition, instantly renders the remedy worse than the disease. As his principal province is the art of cutting, he has no sooner the drawing-knife in his hand, than he is at "the bottom:" his great object is the destruction of parts; and he piques himself upon doing more mischief in two minutes, than Nature can restore in three months. Impressed with no idea but instrumental extirpation, he proceeds to excavate the sole of the foot, till, having reached the membrane, a protrusion ensues, and leaves him a happy opening for the bar-shoe, hot-stopping, a daily dressing, and the collateral considerations which constitute a sum total by no means necessary.

CORDIALS

,—medically considered, are the very reverse, in their property, of what has been said under the subject of "coolers:" they are warm aromatic articles, which stimulate to action the internal coat of the stomach, enliven the circulation, invigorate the frame, expel wind, strengthen the digestive powers; and are, perhaps, without exception, the best and most useful discovery yet made for the prevention and cure of colds in horses, as well as of some other disorders arising from an impoverished state of the blood. Horses subject to incessant fatigue in all weathers, particularly in the wet and dirty months of winter, should never be without the occasional interposition of a warm malt mash, or a CORDIAL BALL, after long journies or severe chases, whenever circumstances may render either or both necessary; the first being given at night, the latter in the morning. After a previous bleeding, these means may be considered infallible in a cold and cough, and never known to fail, if properly persevered in and attended to. The cordial balls are also exceedingly useful, where a horse is off his appetite, either from being overworked, or from the very common and very injudicious custom with weak servants, or penurious masters, {166} of administering large quantities of nitre, (as a cheap and efficacious medicine,) till the blood is attenuated and impoverished below the standard of health, the solids reduced to a state of flaccidity, the stomach nauseated, and the digestive powers proportionally impaired.

CORIANDER

,—the name of A HORSE who acquired much celebrity by his performances upon the TURF for six years in succession. He was bred by Mr Dawson, and was got by Pot8oo's out of Lavender, who was got by Herod; her dam by Snap, out of Sweet William's dam by Cade. He was foaled in 1786. In 1789, when three years old, he beat Jericho, from the ditch-in, for 200 guineas, and Sir W. Aston's Marcia, two year old course, 100 guineas. First Spring meeting, 1790, he beat Buzzard, seven stone each, 100 guineas. Second spring meeting he beat him again for the same sum. He beat Egbert and Isabel, a sweepstakes of 100 guineas each; and Shovel, Glaucus, Alexander, and Sir Thomas, a sweepstakes of 50 guineas each; Baronet, Nimble, Egbert, and Sir Pepper, paying forfeit. He walked over for the King's hundred at Ipswich; and beat Lord Barrymore's Pellegrine the two middle miles of the Beacon for 200 guineas.

CORNER TEETH

—are the four teeth at the extremities of each row in both the upper and the lower jaw, situate between the middle teeth and the tushes: the corner teeth in the lower jaw, are those which the horse sheds when four years old off, and rising five: these not spontaneously exfoliating in time to accommodate the pecuniary propensity of the dealer, he possesses the means and the practice of selling a four year old colt for a FIVE year old horse; and this is so constant, that there is with that class nothing dishonest considered in the custom.

CORONET

—is the part surrounding the foot of the horse just above the junction of hair and hoof: the bone from which the name is derived, bears great affinity in form to a ducal coronet, and is situate between the lower part of the fetlock-bone {169} and the coffin, into which it is inserted, jointly supported by the nut-bone behind. Ligamentary twists, or distortions, sustained at the superior junction of the coronary bone, frequently occasion a prominence upon the coronet, which becoming first callous, and then ossified, is termed A RINGBONE.

COVEY of Partridges

—consists of the cock, hen, and their produce of that year before they are broken, and so continue to be termed till killed down too thin to bear the appellation: they are then distinguished by the small numbers they are found in; as, a leash, (three;) two brace, (four;) &c.

COURSE of Medicine

,—so called where the case is chronic, requiring a rectification in the animal œconomy, or an alteration in the property of the blood. Chronic cases are disorders of some continuance, (producing symptoms of disquietude more than of danger,) and are thus called to distinguish them from those which, proceeding rapidly, terminate sooner, and with more alarm. Cholic, STRANGURY, FEVER, &c. in horses, are acute diseases: on the contrary, grease, surfeit, and some others, may with propriety be termed CHRONIC, and can only be completely eradicated by such course of medicine as shall be considered applicable to the state of the frame, and the origin of the disease.

COURSING

—is a species of sport that a celebrated writer has traced to great antiquity; "it having been treated on by Arrian, who flourished A. D. 150." The same author, the Rev. Mr. Daniel, in his elegant and truly entertaining publication upon "Rural Sports," says,

Rules.

—A hare never to be coursed by more than A BRACE of greyhounds.

COSTIVENESS

—will be sound satisfactorily explained under the head Constipation; to prevent which, regular exercise, great friction, flank rubbing, and frequent changes of food, will greatly contribute.

CRACKS

—in the heels of horses, during the winter season, are found only in stables where the master seldom or ever condescends to appear. These trifles are too frequently attributed to a defect in the constitution of the horse, when, with more propriety, they might be fixed upon a want of constitutional punctuality in the groom. Horses left with wet legs and heels after chase or journey, particularly in sharp easterly winds, or in frost and snow, constitute the evil to a certainty. So severe a rigidity is occasioned in the texture of the integument, that it becomes partially ruptured, (or broken in various places,) upon being brought into action the following day: this, with the irritation and friction occasioned by the sharp particles of gravel and extraneous matter in the dirty roads, soon produce enlarged lacerations of the most painful description. The prudent part of the world {176} will always consider, as well in this, as in every other case, that prevention is better than cure: servants should be allowed in the stables, linen cloths for rubbers to the heels, that they may never be left in the least wet, particularly in the winter season, when once getting tender, the stubbed ends of the new and stiff straw frequently occasion or increase such lacerations.

CRAMP

—is a most extraordinary spasmodic muscular contraction of some particular limb, where the stiffness and rigidity of the part exceeds belief. To those who have never been accustomed to such cases, they are serious and alarming; for the strength of two men is inadequate to the task of rendering the affected limb pliable and active. The cause is sometimes not to be ascertained; but it has frequently arisen from a horse, in a high state of perspiration, having been placed in a current of cold air, or a damp stable, and in a few minutes found not able to move. Standing still two or three days in succession without exercise, after long and constant travelling, is likewise known to produce it. But whatever cause it may have originated in, the direct road to relief is still the same. Instantaneous BLEEDING, hot fomentation with a decoction of aromatic herbs, immediately followed up by strong friction with an old stable horse-brush, and this by an embrocation of camphorated spirits, half a pint, incorporated with one ounce of oil of {177} origanum, and a part of it patiently rubbed in upon the particular part affected, never fails to relieve in a short time. Should it, however, not take effect so soon as expected, dissolve a cordial-ball in a pint of gruel, to which add an ounce of liquid laudanum, and let either or all the operations be repeated in a few hours, should the case (or a relapse) require it.

CREST-FALLEN

.—A horse is said to be crest-fallen, when the part running from the withers to the ears, and upon which the mane grows, is impoverished, and wasted, from the natural prominence of its beautiful curve, to a state of reverse hollowness or indentation. This is generally accompanied by a total emaciation, brought on by very bad support, or neglect under different degrees of disease. The firmness and corresponding curve of the crest is almost invariably a tolerable criterion of the health and condition of the horse; and a judicious inspector seldom omits this part of the examination. If the flesh upon the crest is firm, solid, and not flabbily soft, or fluctuating, it is a good sign of constitutional strength; but a horse having a low, bare, indented crest, will always have a poor, weak, and impoverished appearance, doing his owner no credit. This defect, however, proceeds more from penurious keep, and temporary starvation, than any cause or defect in Nature, and {178} may always be expeditiously remedied by liberal support, and nutritious invigoration.

CRIB-BITING

—is a habit acquired by some horses, of incessantly biting the manger, and gulping the wind; which appears, from observation, to be more prejudicial to character, than to bodily exertion. It is said, "young horses are most subject to it; and that it is often occasioned by uneasiness in breeding of teeth, and from being ill fed when they are hungry. The bad consequences are wearing away their teeth, spilling their corn, and sucking the air in such quantities, as will often give them the cholic or gripes."

CROPPING

—is the operation of taking off the ears, which was till very lately performed with {179} a knife and wooden mould, rendering it both tedious and painful: it is, however, now very much improved by the invention of an instrument admirably adapted to the purpose, by which the separation of the ear is almost instantaneous. It is only adopted where horses are lop-eared, and bear the appearance of mules about the head. As the operation is at best but a cruel mutilation, every humane and tender mind will think it "more honored in the breach than the observance."

CROWN-SCAB

—is a partial appearance about the coronet of a horse, varying in different subjects, according to the state of the object diseased. It partakes a little of the disorder called grease, to which, if unattended to, it would soon degenerate; being a species of that defect, but in an inferior degree. In some it appears as a scurfy eruption, raising the hair, and turning it different ways, from whence soon oozes a kind of oily ichor, fœtid in smell, and greasy in appearance: in others, the discharge is thinner, and more watery, according to the greater or less degree of morbidity in the frame, or acrimony in the blood. It has been a practice with the old school to counteract its effects by vitriolic lotions, slight styptics, and strong repellents: scientific disquisition will not, however, justify such treatment, but recommend daily mollification with warm oatmeal gruel and a soft sponge; when which is wiped gently dry with a soft linen {180} cloth, it may be very mildly impregnated with camphorated spermacæti ointment, and the cure assisted by mercurial physic, diuretic balls, or a course of antimonial alterative powders.

CUB

.—A young fox is so called during the first year.

CURB

—is a callous enlargement, approaching ossification, and is situate at the lower junction of the bones, at the hind part of the hock, originally attended with stiffness, and lastly with lameness and pain. Curbs are evidently produced by kicks, blows, sudden turns or twists, riding too hard (or drawing too much weight) up hill: they should be attended to on their first appearance, when they soon submit to the usual modes adopted for extirpation. Mild blistering frequently succeeds, particularly where the operation is twice performed; but when the case is of long standing, a few slight feather strokes with the firing-iron may be necessary to confirm the cure.

CURB

.—The chain is so called, which is the part of the bridle-bit fixed to one cheek, and passing under the lower-jaw (and above the beard or chin) to the other. By the rein being fixed to rings or loops, at the lower extremity of the bit, this chain, called curb, constitutes a fulcrum; and the harder such rein is pulled, the harder will be {181} the pressure of the curb upon the under jaw, and of course the greater power given to the rider. The curb consists merely of a neat wrought chain, small rings and links, by which it is fixed to the cheek-eyes of the bit, and easily taken off and on for the purpose of cleaning.

CURRY-COMB

,—a well known stable utensil, in constant use for the cleaning of horses. They are much more applicable to post and draft horses, than to horses of superior description, the fineness of whose coats, and the tenderness of whose skins, occasion much uneasiness to them during the prickly persecution, and to whom good, sweet, clean straw-bands are greatly preferable; it being matter of fair doubt, whether more horses are not lamed in the stable under the dancing ceremony of the curry-comb, than by accidents upon the road, or strong exertions in the field.

CRUPPER

,—a leathern convenience, or long strap, annexed to the hinder part of the saddle, having at the other extremity a loop to pass under the tail; by which the saddle is prevented from getting forward, and bringing the rider upon the neck of the horse. Such aid is by no means required with horses well made, and uniformly proportioned: they are rarely brought into use, but where a horse is lower before than behind; and are in so much disrepute with amateurs and connoisseurs, that a {182} real sportsman would sooner part from his horse than to be seen ride with a crupper.

CUTTING

.—Explained under Castration.

CUTTING in Action

,—in the manege called interfering, is lacerating the round inside projecting part of the fetlock-joint, with the edge of the shoe, upon the foot of the opposite leg. This arises much more frequently from the indifference or neglect in the owner, than from any imperfection or defect of the horse; more horses cut from being broke and put into work too young, rode too long journies in a day, or over-worked when weary, than from any cause whatever. Some horses, it is true, cut from their formation, particularly those narrow in the chest. Carriage horses, too, very frequently cut behind; but this must in a great measure be occasioned by the projecting parts and cavities in the pavement, for all which the surest footed horse existing cannot be prepared. {183}

DACE

,—a small fish, common in most rivers, where it is seen swimming near the surface, mostly in shallows, and near bridges, held in no estimation but with the common people.

DAISY-CUTTER

,—a sporting term for horses that go so near the ground, they frequently touch it with the tip of one toe or the other, and are constantly in danger of falling. A horse with broken knees may be considered of this description.

DAPPLE

.—Horses are so called who have partial variegated hues in the coat of different sizes, constituting small circles, both lighter and darker than the general colour of the horse. Such are said to be dappled; hence we have dapple bays, dapple greys, and sometimes dapple blacks.

DEALERS

.—See Horse Dealers.

DECOCTION

.—A decoction for the purpose of fomenting swellings, tumours, or enlargements, (either as an emollient or discutient,) is made by boiling a double handful of Roman wormwood, camomile flowers, bay leaves, and elder flowers, in two gallons of water, for a quarter of an hour, {184} and applying it to the part with sponge or flannel as hot as it can be used without injury to the hair. This will be found more fully explained under the proper head, Fomentation.

DECOY

,—a canal, river, pond, or sheet of water, appropriated to the profitable purpose of taking wild ducks and teal: it is a business peculiar to those only who profess it, and conducted upon a principle of the strictest stillness and regularity. The person having the management of a decoy, must possess taciturnity and patience in a very great degree, both being brought into constant practice; without which, success can neither be expected or deserved. The fowl are brought within the tunnel of the net by stratagem, where, at a critical moment, they are enclosed and taken. All this, however, depends upon the industry, sagacity, deception, and exertion, of the DECOY-DUCK, by whose wiles and allurements the whole flight are brought within the space allotted to their destruction. The decoy-ducks are trained to their business almost from the shell, and amply demonstrate what services may be obtained, what fidelity insured, or what attachment excited, by the exertion of tenderness and humanity, even to the more inferior parts of the creation.

DEER

,—a word indiscriminately used, implies (in its most extensive sense) the animals inhabiting parks and forests, whose flesh is equally denominated VENISON, though very different in size, flavour, and estimation. Deer are of two kinds; the one principally bred and preserved for the chase, the other for the table. A perfect description of the first will be found under the proper heads of Red Deer, Stag, and Hind; of the latter, under Fallow Deer, Buck, and Doe.

DEER-STEALERS

—are those nocturnal desperadoes who, setting at defiance all laws, all possession of property, and the protectors of it, disguise themselves, and, under cover of the night, attack, seize, kill, and carry away, from the best fenced parks, bucks or does, (according to the season,) with the greatest impunity. Their mainspring of action is a dog of the cur kind, called "a coney-cut lurcher:" this is a breed peculiar to itself, and those who use it; being a light sort of brindled wiry-haired mongrel, with a natural stump tail, having the appearance of a bastard greyhound. They are exceedingly fleet and lasting, run mute, {187} (by either nose or sight;) and are so well trained for the purpose to which they are solely appropriated, that they are equally expert in picking up a HARE, or pulling down a BUCK. After having executed their office, though in the darkest night, they will soon recover their master by scent, and lead him to the game so pulled down, which is repeated till a sufficiency is obtained for that journey; the business having been so systematically conducted, by the various neighbouring emissaries and associates concerned, that horses and carts were employed, and a regular routine of robbery carried on, by periodical and alternate depredations upon most of the parks within fifty and sixty miles of the Metropolis. Many living in a line of respectability in other respects, were publicly known to be employed in the nefarious practice without fear of detection; for no informer could come forward, without a very great probability of destruction to his PERSON or property, from some of the many confederates concerned.

DEFAULT

;—a term in hunting, which custom has reduced to an abbreviation, and is in general called FAULT. The hounds, during a chase of any kind, when losing the scent, throwing up their noses, seeming at a loss, and dashing different ways, in anxious and earnest hope of recovery, are then said to be at "a fault." This is the very moment when the judgment of the huntsman is most required, and the soonest to be observed. Different opinions have been formed, and decisions made, respecting the proper mode of proceeding at so critical a juncture, whether to try forward, or to try back: here a great deal depends upon the GAME you are hunting of, and the country you are hunting in, which circumstances at the time can only determine. However opinions may vary upon some particular points, all seem to coincide upon others; that the ground should invariably be made good forward, previous to trying back; that a general silence should prevail, and not an unnecessary aspiration be heard, that can tend to attract the attention of a single {190} hound from the earnest endeavours he is so busily engaged in; by which means nineteen faults are hit off out of twenty, without greater delay, suspense, or disappointment.

DEFECTS

—in horses differ very materially from what are termed BLEMISHES, (which see:) the latter are always considered conspicuous, and easily observed by the eye of experience and judicious inspection. A horse may have defects not so readily to be perceived, and consequently remain a longer or shorter period before they are discovered: he may prove incorrigibly restive, and not happen to display it in a new situation for days or weeks; he may be a seasoned and invincible crib-biter; he {191} may be vicious to dress; a kicker in the night; doubtful in the eyes; aukward in action; troublesome to saddle, and when saddled, more troublesome to ride. Though these are defects, yet the DEALER (proceeding upon the purest principles of integrity) conceives them professional privileges of secrecy, which he is not bound in honor to disclose; affecting to believe, they are totally abstracted from every idea conveyed in the declaration and warranty of being "perfectly sound."

DELPINI

,—originally called "Hackwood," was bred by the late Duke of Bolton; foaled in 1781; and got by Highflyer out of Countess, who was got by Blank. Delpini proved himself a very capital racer, beating most of the best horses of his year at all ages. He has also acquired some celebrity as a STALLION, being the sire of Kilton, Prior, Skelton, Miss Ann, Tiptoe, Abram Wood, Cardinal, Clymene, Dido, Golden Locks, Dapple, Flutter, Little Scot, Miss Beverly, Nixon, Opposition, Timothy, Agnes, Blue Beard, Camperdown, Duchess, Hopwell, L'Abbé, Laborie, Patch, Stourton, Symmetry, Baron Nile, Maid of the Mill, Slap-bang, Sabella, and many others, all winners.

DIABETES

,—divested of medical dignity, and technical ambiguity, is neither more or less than a profuse, frequent, and involuntary discharge of urine, from a weakness of some of the parts necessary to the secretion and evacuation of that particular excrement. Whatever may have been the {193} cause, whether an injury in the loins, near the region of the kidnies, violent and excessive purging from improper physic, or a relaxed state of the sphincter of the bladder, the road to relief and cure is still the same; invigorants of every kind. Oatmeal gruel for drink, instead of water, in which gum arabic is dissolved, so that four or six ounces may be taken every day; not submitting to which, half an ounce, or six drachms of liquid laudanum, may likewise be given in a little gruel, with a horn, every night and morning.

DIAMOND

—was esteemed for some years the speediest and best bottomed horse in the kingdom. He was foaled in 1792; bred by Mr. Dawson; got by Highflyer out of the dam of Sparkler, and was own brother to Screveton. At three years old he repeatedly ran in handsome with some of the first horses, and was within a length of winning the Derby at Epsom when twelve started, but did no more than receive 50 guineas forfeit from Lark at the second Newmarket Meeting of the year 1795. First Spring Meeting, 1796, he won the Jockey Stakes of 100 guineas each, six subscribers. In the July Meeting of the same year he WALKED OVER for a sweepstakes of 200 guineas each, seven subscribers. In 1797, when Mr. Cookson's, he won the King's hundred at Newcastle, and a 50l. plate the next day at the same place; 50l. at York; the 50 guineas for all ages {194} at Newmarket, beating Yeoman, Play or Pay, Aimator, and others. The next day he won the King's hundred guineas, beating the famous Hermione and Vixen. In 1798 he beat Moorcock, over the Beacon Course, for 200 guineas, Monday in the Craven Meeting. First Spring Meeting he won a sweepstakes of 100 guineas each, twelve subscribers. Second Meeting, received a compromise from Lord Clermont's Spoliator. At Oxford he won the GOLD CUP of 100 guineas value, with 50 guineas in specie, beating Stickler, Johnny, Oatlands, and Whip; all excellent runners. The King's hundred at Nottingham; the King's hundred at York; and beat Sir H. T. Vane's Shuttle four miles over Doncaster for 1000 guineas: the odds eleven to eight upon Shuttle. In 1799 he was beat half a length the great match by Hambletonian, over the Beacon Course at Newmarket, for 3000 guineas; the odds five to four upon Hambletonian. More money was sported upon this match, and more company went from the Metropolis to see it decided, than ever was known upon any other race in the kingdom. The next day he won the first class of the Oatlands stakes 50 guineas each (ten subscribers) beating eight of the best horses of the year. First Spring Meeting he won the King's hundred, beating Grey Pilot, Lounger, and St. George. Second Meeting won the Jockey Club plate, and 50 guineas, beating Stamford and Lounger. In 1800, First {195} Spring Meeting, he won a subscription 50l. beating Stamford, the famous Coriander, and Wrangler. First October Meeting he received 250 guineas forfeit from Warter. Second October Meeting he beat Hippona over the Beacon Course, 200 guineas. Here ended his career of GLORY by the death of Mr. Cookson; after which he was sold, and taken to Ireland; where being engaged by his owner in a match of much magnitude, he was LAMED by over training in another country, after running five successive years in this, without being lame, or having paid FORFEIT from indisposition, or being once amiss.

DIET

.—The diet of horses in this country is now so universally known, that very little is required upon the subject of explanation under this head. The articles called oats, beans, hay, bran, chaff, carrots, and grains, are individually brought into use, as may best coincide with the pecuniary propensities, or liberal sensations, of the owners. Whatever may be written upon the subject of quantity and quality, will very little influence the enquirers upon those heads; the GENTLEMAN and the SPORTSMAN will never alter their invariable plan of plenty, and of the best quality; but the long list of coachmasters, postmasters, job and hackney-men, carmen, carriers, and inferior tradesmen, who merely exist, under the unavoidable accumulation of taxes, cannot feed their horses as they would, but are compelled to feed them as they can. No particular instructions, therefore, become materially {196} necessary; but some general rules may be laid down for occasional recollection.

DIOMED

—was in great repute as a racer, and afterwards as A STALLION at ten guineas a mare. He was bred by Sir C. Bunbury; got by Florizel; dam by Spectator, and grand-dam by Blank; was foaled in 1777, and proved himself an equal runner with the best horse of his time. As a stallion, he has propagated some of the finest stock in the kingdom. Diomed is the sire of Anthony, Charlotte, Grey Diomed, Laïs, Mademoiselle, Playfellow, Quetlavaca, Sir Cecil, Whiskers, Montezuma, Glaucus, Speculator, Champion, Little Pickle, Michael, Monkey, Young Grey Diomed, Snip, Tom, Robin Grey, Dalham, Guatimozin, Habakkuk, Adela, Cædar, Switch, Greyhound, Laurentina, Poplar, Wrangler, and Egham; all considered WINNERS; exclusive of {198} many others who won MATCHES and SWEEPSTAKES, (as colts and fillies,) but were never named.

DISEASE

—is not only a state of the body directly opposite to the standard of health, but may be defined of two kinds; as those with which we are afflicted by the influence of a superior Power, whose wisdom we are not permitted to explore; and by others that, in acts of neglect and indiscretion, we bring upon ourselves. Diseases are differently conceived: some writers describe them by their cause, some by their effect: leaving the investigation in a kind of medical mystery, bearing no ill affinity to theological ambiguity. In fact, the word is only introduced here to remind every reader, that, in respect to both MAN and HORSE, prevention is preferable to CURE.

DISTANCE

;—a sporting term appertaining solely to the TURF. It is a length of two hundred and forty yards (actual measurement) from the WINNING-POST of every RACE-COURSE in the kingdom; precisely at which spot is fixed a post corresponding with others, but having a gallery annexed capable of holding three or four persons, which is called the DISTANCE-POST. In this gallery, as well as in the gallery of the winning-post, before the horses start each heat, is stationed a person holding a crimson flag; during the time the horses are running, each flag is suspended from the front of the gallery to {199} which it has been appropriated; but immediately upon the first horse passing the holder of the flag in the gallery of the WINNING-POST, he strikes THE FLAG; at the very moment of his doing which, the holder of the flag in the gallery of the distance-post strikes his also, in confirmation that the heat is decided; and such HORSE or HORSES (running for the plate) as may not have passed the DISTANCE-POST before the flag is struck, is then deemed a distanced horse, and disqualified from starting again for the same PLATE or PRIZE. A horse running on the wrong side of a POST, the RIDER not bringing his proper and full weight to scale after the heat, or dismounting without first riding HIS HORSE up to the side of the scale, and weighing, are also deemed distanced horses, and not permitted to start again.

DIURETICS

.—The class of medicines so called, are those which, by their peculiar stimulus, act solely upon the parts appropriated to the secretion of urine and its evacuation; thereby relieving the frame from such impurities, or slight disorders as pass under the denomination of HUMOURS, and are said to originate in the state of the blood. The advertised diuretic balls of the Author are recommended and established for their well-known efficacy in "cracks, scratches, inflammation of the eyes, perceptible foulness, swelled legs, and grease." Diuretics are the more useful and convenient, because a horse can {200} be moderately used at any time during their operation.

DOE

—is the female of the FALLOW DEER, bred in PARKS, and are the species from which the table is supplied with venison: the male is called A BUCK; the female, A DOE: the young (of which they produce but one annually) is called A FAWN. Doe venison is not considered equal in epicurean estimation with the buck, either in fat or flavour; nor is it in season till the latter has declined: this happens at the beginning of autumn, when the season for copulation (called rutting time) comes on. Fawns are killed for the table at three months old, consequently in use during the latter end of August, and first weeks of September.

DOGS

,—that well-known species of animal whose fidelity, attachment, gratitude, and general utility, very far exceed every eulogium within the power of the profuse pen of admiration to bestow. Their virtues and useful qualifications are beyond the most prolific description: they are the protectors of our property at home, the promoters of our pleasures abroad, and the pleasing partners of our domestic comforts by the fire-side. The Rev. Mr. Daniel, in his elegant production called "Rural Sports," has given a very full and satisfactory historical account of their origin, the different kinds and crosses, with instances, and well authenticated {201} proofs, of their mutual affection, fidelity, sagacity, and docility. He has also introduced "a laughable philosophical account of dogs, under the supposition of a transmigration of souls;" with a great variety of matter, truly entertaining to the SPORTSMAN of curious investigation.

DOCKING

.—The amputation of the tail is so called, from that part of the tail left to the body being called the DOCK. It is a very short and simple operation, attended with no danger, and may with yearlings be performed even with a common knife. A very slight cauterization with a hot-iron, and a little powdered rosin, immediately stops the {211} bleeding, and a cure takes place in a few days. It was formerly a custom to dock horses close to the quarters, under the erroneous and ridiculous impression of making the horse strong in the spine: such idea and practice are, however, in the present more enlightened age, entirely relinquished.

DOUBLE

—a term in HARE HUNTING. The hare is said to double, when, being considerably ahead of the hounds, she throws herself to the right or left, and returns in a parallel line to the track she went before; getting into which, she is said to run the foil. If during the chase the lays down, she is then said to quat.

DRAG

—is a sporting term in HUNTING, and used exactly in the same sense with THE FOX, as trail is with THE HARE. Upon throwing THE HOUNDS into covert, to draw for a FOX, any single hound giving tongue, is said to CHALLENGE, and to have hit upon drag; that is, to have come upon the foot or scent of the fox, where he had been in the night or early part of the morning, before he retired to secrete himself for the day. When it was the custom to be at the covert side so soon as there was day-light sufficient to RIDE up to the HOUNDS, drag was speedily obtained; and in many instances a GOOD DRAG proved better than a bad chase; but in the present fashion of going to covert, and throwing off at mid-day, drag is but very little {212} known, and but of trifling use if found; for the SCENT must, from the great length of time, have so generally died away, and so partially remained, that no expectation can be entertained of THE HOUNDS carrying it up to THE GAME.

DRAG-NET

—is the particular NET in use with those nocturnal depredators who exert their utmost endeavours to devastate every water in the neighbourhood where they reside. It is of sufficient length to extend from one side of any moderate pond, moat, or river, to the other; and having the bottom plentifully loaded with leads at equal distances, with the addition of assistants at each end to bring the two together, encloses of course all the fish within its draught.

DRAUGHT or Draft Horses

—are of two kinds; the one adapted to the light carriages and splendid trappings of the great; the other to the purposes of agriculture, and the commercial transactions of the Metropolis, where their numbers, their strength, and powerful execution, exceed every idea of the most fertile imagination. See Cart Horses.

DRAWING

—is a term used in FOX and STAG HUNTING, when drawing a covert to find either of the former, or an outlying deer; it being customary to say, "we draw for A FOX;" "we try for A HARE."

DRAW-NET

—is used for taking birds of different kinds, but more particularly applied to the net made use of with the SETTING DOG for taking PARTRIDGES, by which mode the whole COVEY are frequently secured. The old birds are liberated, and the young destined to the table. This is, however, considered so destructive and unfair a practice, that it is continued but by very few, and those principally consist of RUSTIC TYRANTS, or rigid Cynics, who wish to monopolize not only the SPORT and the GAME, but all the good things of this life.

DRAY

.—A squirrel's deposit for its young is so called; it is built in the triangular branches of a tree, and resembles the nest of a magpye.

DRENCH, or Drink

,—any medical composition prepared in a liquid form, and given to horses or cattle for the cure of disease. A distinction is made between the two in general; it being the custom to say, DRINK for a HORSE, drench for a cow. They are given with a horn, sold by saddlers and collar-makers for that purpose.

DRIFT

—is the act of driving A COMMON. This ceremony takes place once, twice, or thrice, a year, (according to the custom of the place,) to insure and continue the privilege of the Lord of the Manor, as well as to preserve the rights of the {214} parishioners. The cattle upon the COMMONS and WASTES being all driven to some particular spot, are there examined, and their owners ascertained: those belonging to parishioners (or such as have right of common) are immediately liberated, and return to their old lair: others, the property of ALIENS, are impounded, and the owner is fined such reasonable sum as may be thought equitable by the BAILIFF of the MANOR. No owner being found, the object (whatever it be) is called an estray, which being cried three times in the nearest market-towns, and not claimed within twelve months and a day, it then becomes the property of the LORD of the MANOR.

DRIVER

,—a name given to many famous horses, but of very different blood. The first was foaled in 1727, bred by the Duke of Ancaster, and got by the Wynn Arabian, of no great note. Mr. Beaver's Driver was foaled 1732, and got by Snake out of Thwaites's dun mare. Mr. Lamego's Driver (commonly called Little Driver) was got by Beaver's Driver; dam by Childers; grand-dam by the Walpole Barb; was foaled in 1743; and for some years proved one of the best plate horses in the kingdom, having won upwards of thirty fifties; but as a stallion never produced any winners. Lord Egremont's Driver, foaled in 1783, was got by Trentham, dam (Coquette) by the Compton Barb, and proved a tolerable runner.

DROPSY of the Chest

—is a disorder to which horses are subject; and many instances have occurred in the practice of the Author, where seven, eight, and in one case near ten gallons of water were found in the CAVITY of the CHEST, upon opening the body after death. This accumulation of fluid being completely extravasated, no hope of cure can be entertained, as the preternatural collection can neither be taken up by absorption, or carried off by evacuation. There seems to be only one predominant trait, or distinguishing symptom, by which this disorder can be even tolerably ascertained, and that is solely by the ACTION of the horse. In either walk, trot, or gallop, (and the more as his pace is increased in each,) the fore legs seemingly spread from each other, as if they were internally distended by painful pressure, similar to division by forcible expansion, not at all unlike the means used by butchers in the stick pointed at each end to extend the limbs of carcases when displayed for sale. The legs in a trot constitute a painful hobble; and in a GALLOP the subject cannot get his legs before him, but appears at every motion likely to pitch upon his head. All this gives every reason to believe the defect, when first discovered, is frequently thought a lameness in the shoulder, and the patient presently deemed a chest-foundered horse. If a horse having a DROPSY in the CHEST, and the collection of water (from the duration of disease) is large, much information may be derived respecting {216} the certainty, by the following experiment. Lead, or let him be rode up a gentle ascent, and he will be observed to move with but very little pain or impediment: the moment he is turned round, and descends, the weight of the water in the chest coming forward, and being pressed upon by the contents of the abdomen, in the action of going down hill, instantly produces so much pain, and such difficulty of proceeding, that with judicious practitioners, or nice observers, no great hesitation can arise in pronouncing the probable CERTAINTY of this disease.

DRUGS

.—The parts of the MATERIA MEDICA are so called in their individual state, previous to their incorporation with each other, when they then become CHEMICALS or GALENICALS, according to the different processes they have undergone; and the most eminent commercial houses in that way, announce themselves dealers in "Chemicals, Galenicals, and Drugs." There is nothing requires more the scrutinizing eye of the SPORTSMAN, or the judicious exertion of the VETERINARIAN, than the selection of MEDICINES; upon the pure and unadulterated properties of which, he has alone to depend for the foundation of all his hopes, the gratification of all his wishes, and the support of all his professional reputation.

DUBBING

.—Taking off the COMB and GILLS from a game chick, before he is turned to a master-walk, is so called. The operation is performed with a penknife for the comb, and scissars for the gills; after which wash the parts with vinegar, or weak salt and water, which terminates the whole.

DULNESS

—in a horse of any tolerable spirit, may be considered an infallible sign of present disquietude, or approaching DISEASE. In all cases, accurate investigation, and early relief, are much to be commended: even a slight cold attended to at its commencement, may be prevented from speedily producing an INFLAMMATION of the LUNGS, FEVER, or many other disorders of equal anxiety, trouble, and expence.

DUNG

.—The excrement of the horse is so {220} called, and should be occasionally attended to, as its appearance will sometimes tend to the prevention of disease. If the dung is bright in colour, the globules uniform in shape and consistence, and not fœtid in effluvia, the body may be considered in good state: on the contrary, if the dung, when voided, is hard, black, and offensive, or the parts adhere to each other by a viscid ropy slime, they are equal prognostics of internal heat, foulness, and impending disquietude. Horses in this state should be put under a course of physic without delay; for till they are thoroughly cleansed, they cannot with propriety be brought into any strong exertions whatever. Another advantage is frequently derived from an accurate inspection of the dung, where WORMS are sometimes seen in great plenty, although, from the general appearance of the horse, no such circumstance may have been expected.

DUNGANNON

,—the name of a horse of much celebrity, his winnings being equal to any racer of his day. He was bred by Col. O'Kelly, and foaled in 1780. He was got by Eclipse; dam (Aspasia) by Herod; her dam (Doris) by Blank; grand-dam (Helen) by Spectator, &c. &c. After beating every horse of eminence, particularly the famous horse Rockingham over Newmarket, he was taken out of training, and as a stallion produced annually some of the speediest and best bottomed {221} horses in the kingdom. He covered first at twenty guineas, then at fifteen, and lastly at twelve. He was sire of Sybil, Cinderella, Equity, Lurcher, Harriet, Northland, Bandalore, Clementina, Fancy, Griffin, Hambleton, Hop-picker, Minimus, Parrot, Bedford, Pastor, Billy, Edgar, George, Little Devil, Totterella, Totteridge, Cannons, Dispute, Inferior, Outcast, Pensioner, Bragger, Oatlands, Boaster, Omen, Ploro, and Miss Totteridge; all WINNERS; exclusive of many others, both colts and fillies, who ran and won without a name.

EARS

.—As the ears constitute much of the beauty of a horse, according as they are well or ill shaped, so from their situation, they are sure to become early objects of observation. If they are small, soft, and fine, curving inward in a small degree at the point, perfectly erect, and spirited in action, they give the animal a very noble, majestic, and commanding aspect: on the contrary, when a horse points his ears forwards, he bears the appearance of looking eternally for mischief, and always preparing to start at every object he meets, which is no very pleasant sensation to the rider. Horses of this description are seldom remarkable for the safety of their eyes; a purchaser cannot be too circumspect {222} in his examination before he makes him an acquisition. Horses having coarse, long, foul ears, set on too low, and hanging down on the sides, are called mule or lop eared horses; and if of good form in other respects, and of some value, they are in general cropped to improve their appearance. The greater part of the racing stock of old Herod, one of the best stallions ever bred in England, were foul, long, and wide in their ears, which is to be seen in almost the whole of their progeny.

ECLIPSE

—the name of the most famous horse (since Flying Childers) ever produced or trained in this or any other country. He was bred in Windsor Great Park by the Culloden (or Great) Duke of {224} Cumberland, being foaled during the celebrated eclipse in the year 1764, from which his name was taken. He was got by Old Marske, dam (Spilletta) by Regulus; her dam (Mother Western) by Smith's son of Snake; grand-dam by Lord D'Arcy's Old Montague, &c. &c. Upon the decease of his Royal Highness, the stud were sold by auction at the Park Lodge; where Eclipse (then a yearling) was purchased by Mr. Wildman for 46 guineas, and afterwards sold to Colonel O'Kelly (his last and only possessor) for 1700 guineas. In 1769, when five years old, he won two 50's at Epsom; 50 at Ascot Heath; the King's 100 guineas, and 50, at Winchester; the 100 guineas, the bowl, and 30 guineas, at Salisbury; and the King's 100 guineas at Canterbury, Lewes, and Litchfield.

EARTH

.—A fox beating his pursuers when hunted, and taking refuge under ground, is then said to have earthed, or gone to earth. Some of these earths are situate in old chalk pits, forming such different channels and ramifications amidst the roots of trees in woods and coppices, that it is impossible to dig them out; but where there is the least probability of success, it is never relinquished; upon the established and well-founded principle, that the {226} hounds are always entitled to blood after a GOOD CHASE. A wanton and unnecessary destruction is, however, at no time to be justified, particularly in a country thin of foxes; such unthinking devastation is frequently productive of a blank day at the end of a season.

EARTH-STOPPER

—is an indispensible part of a FOX-HUNTING establishment, whose business is principally performed by night. His department is to visit and stop the strongest earths in the district intended to be hunted on the following day. This is usually effected between the hours of ten at night and four in the morning, by means of bushes, brambles, earth, &c. to furnish which, he is provided with a hand-bill, spade, candle and lanthorn, a hardy rough poney, terriers, and of course a pocket pistol, to recruit the spirits amidst the dreary scenes it is become his occupation to explore. It is also his business to re-open the EARTHS after the sport of the day, that the FOXES may not fall victims to other modes of destruction.

ELDER

—is a tree common in most hedges in the country, bearing a fruit called ELDER-BERRIES, from which people make a very good wine. It is, however, only mentioned here to remind the reader, that the flowers are a very excellent ingredient in fomentations, and sporting gentlemen should never be without them: they should be gathered in {227} the heighth of the bloom, properly dried, and preserved for use.

ELECAMPANE

,—a root formerly in much estimation for its efficacy in coughs and disorders of the breast and lungs; hence the reputation it has attained in pectoral compositions for the use of horses. The great difficulty, however, of procuring any thing like the genuine root in powder from the medical retail shops, must ever prevent any great gratification of expectation, to those who rely too much upon the properties it is said to retain.

EMBROCATION

;—a name given to SPIRITUOUS, VOLATILE, or SATURNINE applications in a liquid form; either as corroborants, stimulants, repellents, &c. and in most cases they are doubly efficacious, if their use is preceded by sponges dipt in a hot decoction, prepared from those garden aromatics called "FOMENTATION HERBS."

EMOLLIENTS

—are such external applications as mollify the surface, and alleviate any stricture upon the surrounding parts: they supple the solids, as well as sheath and soften any asperity of the fluids. Fomentations are of this class, and prove of the greatest utility in all tumefactions, enlargements, and many lamenesses of HORSES, with those practitioners who have judgment and patience {228} to bring them perseveringly into use. From the relaxing property of emollient topics, and their sheathing of acrimony, it is that they are good sedative applications, when pain from tension or irritation is excited: from nervous sympathy, their efficacy is conveyed to distant and deep-seated parts, and thus it is that the warm bath proves in most cases so powerful a sedative. Emollients, whether in the use of fomentations, or the application of poultices, by relaxing the fibres, and increasing the congestion of fluids, greatly promote suppuration, to effect which in all inflammatory tumours, they should be immediately brought into use.

ENTRANCE of HORSES

—is the ceremony of entering horses (at the particular places appointed) on a certain day previous to the races at any city, borough, or town, where the plates to be run for are given and advertised. Horses intended to run, are "to be SHEWN and ENTERED," paying two or three guineas "entrance money," (according to the custom of the place,) and in general five shillings to the CLERK of THE COURSE. For all plates given by His Majesty, or his R. H. the P. of Wales, no other entrance money is permitted, or paid, but the before-mentioned fee to the clerk of the course.

ENTRANCE of HOUNDS

—is the introduction of young hounds to the PACK; with whom, at a {229} proper age, they are incorporated, for their initiation in the kind of chase to which they are then to become appropriate. This is a matter so truly professional, and so entirely dependent upon the judgment of the HUNTSMAN and his attendants, that neither instruction or entertainment can be derived from literary description.

EPILEPSY

,—a disorder in horses, bearing some similitude to APOPLEXY and STAGGERS; for which the same medical means are applied for relief.

EQUERRY

—is an appointment of much honour in the home department of His Majesty, under the sole direction of the MASTER of the HORSE. There are FIVE EQUERRIES in this official situation, one of whom is called the first: of the other four, two are always in waiting to attend upon His Majesty in every equestrian excursion, whether on the road, to the field, or in the chase, with whom His Majesty most graciously condescends to converse familiarly. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, the Dukes of York, Gloucester, and other branches of the Royal Family, have likewise attendants of this description.

EQUERRIES

—apply equally to those in a more subordinate situation, who personally officiate in the STABLES of the Crown, and to whom is entrusted the breaking, managing, and preparing {230} saddle-horses of every description for the King's use. Some of the out-riders who attend upon the family, pass also under the same denomination.

ESCAPE

,—the name of a horse of great beauty, excellent symmetry, and much celebrity. He was bred by Mr. Franco, and got by Highflyer out of a Squirrel mare; he was foaled in 1785; and in the First Spring Meeting at Newmarket, 1789, he beat the Prince of Wales's Cantoo Baboo, from the ditch-in, for 200 guineas. He was then purchased by his Royal Highness, and in the Second Spring Meeting he received forfeit from Alexander, and Clown, 100 guineas each. In the First October Meeting of the same year, he beat Nimble across the flat 200 guineas. The Craven Meeting, 1790, he beat Grey Diomed over the Beacon 500 guineas; and won the great subscription purse at York, beating Actæon, and Gustavus. The Craven Meeting, 1791, he beat Skylark, Highlander, Glaucus, Halkin, Meteor, and Buffer, a subscription of 50 guineas each: two to one on Skylark. First October Meeting the same year, he beat Grey Diomed over the Beacon Course 8st. 7lb. each for 1000 guineas. Two days after, he beat him again for the renewed 140 guineas. In the second October Meeting he won a subscription purse (twelve subscribers) over the Beacon, beating Chanticleer, Skylark, Grey Diomed, Harpator, and Alderman, with the odds four and five to one {231} against him. When taken out of training, he covered at Highflyer Hall at ten guineas a mare, and half a guinea the groom.

ESCHAR

—is the prominence remaining upon the cicatrix of an ill-cured wound, or the scab frequently seen to form a projecting apex upon a broken knee; or where some injury has been left to cure itself by an effort of nature, without the least interposition of art. If it is a scab only, and not of long standing, it may in general be brought away spontaneously, by occasional softenings with small quantities of camphorated spermacæti liniment; if, on the contrary, they are rigidly seated, and have acquired a degree of callosity in the nature of a sitfast, there is no other mode of cure, but by extirpation with the knife and forceps.

ESTRAY, or Stray

,—appertain equally to horse, mare, bull, ox, cow, sheep, or, in fact, any head of cattle, who having strayed from its own home, common, waste, or lair, into a strange MANOR, or LORDSHIP, and there found without an owner, is then called an ESTRAY, or stray: in which case it is an established custom, sanctioned by LAW, and founded in EQUITY, that such stray is proclaimed, and his or her marks described, by the common crier, in the three next nearest towns on the market-day; and if the stray is not claimed within a year and a day of the time on which it was publicly {232} cried, and fully described, it then becomes the property of the LORD of the MANOR where it was found. If the owner makes the claim within the time limited, he is liable to pay reasonable charges for finding, keeping, proclaiming, &c. An estray must be kept without labour, uninjured, and properly fed, till reclaimed, or the time above mentioned is expired.

EUPHORBIUM

,—an article whose acrid and stimulative property renders it only applicable to one medical purpose, and that externally; it constitutes a principal ingredient in the preparation of BLISTERING OINTMENT for HORSES, where its proportion, if managed properly, should be exactly equal with its corresponding article CANTHARIDES, commonly called Spanish flies.

EVACUANTS

—are such medicines as gently stimulate the intestines, and urinary passages, to a more speedy secretion and expulsion of their excrementitious contents. The term is applicable to both PURGATIVES and DIURETICS; the effect of which is to remove plethora in horses, and to prevent the consequent viscidity of blood; which, when a horse is overloaded in his frame, and the solids too grossly distended, soon displays itself in swelled legs, cracked heels, cutaneous scurfy eruptions, grease, farcy, or some one of the many ills frequently produced by an accumulation of HUMOURS {233} originating in a corrupt or vitiated state of the fluids, inconsiderately neglected, or probably never attended to. Those who will condescend to dedicate a little time occasionally to the palpable utility of EVACUANTS, either as preventives, or the means of cure, (in a variety of cases,) will never stand in need of a monitor to promote their use.

EVACUATION

—is that part of the ANIMAL ŒCONOMY, without a regular preservation of which, the frame of man or beast cannot long continue free from PAIN or DISEASE. Next to the aliment necessarily received for the support of life, EVACUATION is the very effort of Nature upon which HEALTH must principally depend. Little penetration is requisite to comprehend most perfectly a system so plain as to require but very concise explanation. Consistency should be observed, and attention should be paid, to what the frame receives by FOOD, and what it discharges by the different evacuations; for if the body (within any given time) accumulates much more by unreasonable and unnecessary supplies, than the EFFORTS of Nature can carry off by her different emunctories in the evacuation of excrements, the foundation of disease follows of course. The fluids become thick and stagnant, the circulation languid, the solids preternaturally distended, and their elasticity partially destroyed; hence arises that infinite number of distorted VALETUDINARIANS with which {234} the streets of the Metropolis so plentifully abound, and by whom the constantly increasing MEDICAL SHOPS and MEDICINE WHAREHOUSES are principally supported.

EXCRESCENCE

.—Any preternatural enlargement is so called; but it is principally, and most properly, applied to those of a spongy nature, as WARTS and WENS, as well as a polypus upon any particular part. In all wounds of HORSES, if they are of considerable magnitude, fungous flesh increases very rapidly, and frequently disconcerts the young or injudicious VETERINARIAN; who, erroneously adopting caustics and escharotics, too often renders the remedy more destructive than the disease. Fungous formation of this kind passes also under the technical denomination of EXCRESCENCE, and is best reduced by superficial scarification in lines transverse and longitudinal; the dressings then consisting of strong red precipitate digestive ointment with lint, &c. Excrescences of the warty kind will always submit to repeated and persevering applications of BUTTER OF ANTIMONY, OIL OF VITRIOL, or any other escharotic, but they are not to be laid on with too liberal a hand. Wenny deep-seated substances (erroneously called excrescences) require very warm stimulants, and powerful spirituous applications, for a great length of time, before any expectation of repulsion or obliteration can be entertained.

EXERCISE

.—The great advantages resulting from EXERCISE, to both man and beast, are now so universally understood, both in theory and practice, that animadversion here must be considered {236} matter of superfluity: those, however, who wish for a more enlarged or scientific disquisition, will find fifty pages in the second volume of the Gentleman's Stable Directory appropriated to this particular head.

EXPEDIATE

—is a term transmitted from one book to another by former writers, but is at present little used in either THEORY or PRACTICE. It implies the cutting out the centrical ball of the foot of a dog, or such claws as shall totally prevent his pursuit of game. In earlier times, when the FOREST LAWS were more rigidly enforced, the owner of any dog not expediated, living within the district, was liable to a fine for non-obedience.

EXTRAVASATION

—applies only to such fluids as may, from any accidental cause, or injury sustained, escape from the tubes or vessels in which they were confined; when they from such extravasation become stagnant, laying the foundation of an obstruction terminating in an enlargement, probably disagreeable to the eye, and some impediment to action. Extravasated lymph, oozing from ruptured fibres, lay most invariably the foundation of almost every tumefaction to which we can advert; and evidently demonstrates the necessity for reflection before we proceed to blows, when it is recollected what serious and lasting injuries by blows may be sustained.

EYES

.—The state of the EYES in every horse constitutes so much of the value and excellence in respect to their good or bad formation, that proper, nay extreme, circumspection ought to be used in the examination previous to purchase. The best and most experienced judges of horses are sometimes seriously disappointed, and not unfrequently deceived, in a superficial survey, and too hasty decision: in fact, there is no point of the ANIMAL upon the merits of which (in a variety of instances) it is so difficult to form an accurate, at least an infallible, opinion as upon the parts before us. If at first sight you are attracted by their bright, bold, prominent appearance, and observe they are sufficiently clear and transparent to reflect your own figure in the eye as you stand before it, and the horse neither winks, blinks, or rolls the orbs of the eyes about, as if feeling for the light when brought out of the stable, there is then every well-founded reason to believe they are not only safe, but PERFECTLY GOOD. On the contrary, when the EYE appears flat, as if sunk in its orbit, with a palpable vacuum round the orb, between it and the eye-lid, it is a very unfavourable indication; particularly if there should be no defluxion (or inflammatory discharge) from the eye, to justify the idea of a temporary injury having been sustained by a BLOW, BITE, or some such accident, neither to be foreseen or guarded against. If there is a palpable indentation above the orbs, and a wrinkled contraction of {238} the eye-lids towards the forehead, they are invariable symptoms, or certain signs, of impending danger, and the subject cannot be ventured upon without a very great probability of certain loss when he is again offered for sale.

FALLOW DEER

—are the species of Deer bred in parks for the production of venison, as well for the private use of the great and opulent, as for sale. The male is called A BUCK; the female, a DOE; the offspring of both, A FAWN; and they vary some degrees in colour, but consist principally of a dark dingy brown, inclining to black, or a mottled sandy dun. The BUCK is furnished with horns, which he sheds yearly: the DOE has no such weapons for self-defence.

FALLOW LAND

—is land so called when under no immediate cultivation, but ploughed up, and laid at rest, to acquire, from its exposure to the elements, additional strength for the production of future crops. Of these there are both summer and winter fallows; upon the last of which, if dry, HARES may generally be found in the months of January, February, and March, if there are any to be seen in the country.

FALCONER

.—A FALCONER, whose province it was to tame, manage, and look after FALCONS, and other hawks, was formerly as great and conspicuous a character as the most celebrated HUNTSMAN {241} of the present day. The influence of fashion, and the changes wrought by time, have, however, so obscured both SPORT and SPORTSMAN in this way, that neither hawk, falcon, or falconer, are to be seen or heard of, unless in the northern parts of the kingdom, where it is also nearly buried in oblivion.

FALSE QUARTER

—is a defect in the hoof of a horse, originally sustained by some injury, producing a destruction of parts; as quittor, canker, wounds, treads, bruises, or such formation of matter, by which a part of the hoof has been unavoidably destroyed, or necessarily taken away. In the regeneration of parts, the incarnation (from the rigid and horny nature of the hoof) is irregular and imperfect, forming a sort of cleft (or artificial union) with the sound part upon the surface, productive of a sensible weakness underneath. This imperfect and defective junction renders such quarter, as is it called, inadequate to the weight it is destined to bear; in which case, much judgment is required, and may be exerted, in the palliation, as perfect cure is not to be expected. Care must be taken in forming the shoe to relieve the tender part from pressure, by hollowing it at that particular spot, and letting the bearing be fixed entirely upon the sound parts. By constant attention in reducing the prominent edges of the irregular projection with the fine side of the RASP, and a few occasional {242} impregnations with fine spermacæti oil, the hoof may be sometimes restored to its original formation.

FAMILY

.—See Black Legs and Betting.

FARCY

,—except the GLANDERS, is the most unfortunate and destructive disease to which the horse is subject. It is infectious, and may be communicated from one horse to another, or to the whole stable, where many stand together. As it frequently attacks different subjects in a different way, (according to the state and condition of the horse at the time of attack,) so it has afforded opportunity to the fertile and ingenious to extend and define it to various kinds of FARCY, though they are but different shades and gradations of the same disease.

FARRIER

—is the appellation by which a person is known, whose occupation it has hitherto been considered to execute the joint office of furnishing shoes for the PROTECTION of the FEET, and the BODY with MEDICINE for the cure of disease. It has been, from its original formation as a business, the most dangerous, laborious, and least compensated, trade (or profession) of any in the kingdom; consequently none but the most indigent or illiterate (from the eaves of a cottage, or the walls of a workhouse) could be prevailed upon to undertake it. In proof of which, it is a well known fact, {246} that, for a century past, not more than one in TWENTY of its practitioners, in either town or country, has ever been enabled to leave a clear twenty pounds to his family at the time of their decease. Recent circumstances have, however, occurred, to give the PRACTICE of FARRIERY a new complexion; but, unluckily, in the extreme; for the appearance of "The Gentleman's Stable Directory" a few years since, and the success of its author in his indefatigable endeavours, and energetic exertions, to promote a reformation in the shamefully neglected, erroneous, and cruel system of FARRIERY, constituted such a blaze of national emulation, that the institution, erection, and establishment, of a PUBLIC SCHOOL, has rendered practitioners in FARRIERY (newly ycleped "Veterinary Surgeons") as numerous as the necessitous medical adventurers in almost every town and village of the kingdom. See Veterinary College.

FARRIERY

.—The ART of FARRIERY consists in the peculiar mode of discovering one disorder from another, by a discrimination of predominant symptoms, and the administration of medicine particularly applicable to that peculiar species of disease. It also comprehends and includes the operations of BLEEDING, CROPPING, DOCKING, NICKING, BLISTERING, FIRING, &c. as well as the cure of wounds, and the long train of ills and accidents to which the horse is incident. This ART (or more {247} properly science) now struggling to become respectable, has hitherto continued in a state of the most wretched sterility for the reasons so clearly explained under the last head; to which may be added, the very impressive consideration, that its PROFESSORS have not been permitted to retain the least personal weight in the scale of society; on the contrary, have been generally held in the most trifling estimation, and consequently destined to associate only with the lowest and least polished classes of every description.

FAWN

—is the young of the BUCK and DOE, called a fawn during the first year. A fawn is secreted by the dam in the fern, or long grass, with great care, during the first weeks, and seldom accompanies the mother but by night. In royal PARKS and CHACES, a certain number are annually killed when fawns of about three months old, to prevent the district from being overstocked; this is generally done by COURSING with GREYHOUNDS, which is most excellent sport, the greyhounds being frequently beat.

FEATHER

.—The centrical division, and different directions, of the surrounding hair in a horse's forehead is so called: they are also frequently seen upon the neck on one or both sides the mane, and sometimes upon the hind quarters, and are considered natural ornaments: their similitude to a feather of the first plumage has given them this appellation.

FEATHER WEIGHT

,—in the SPORTING WORLD, signifies the lightest weight that can be put upon the back of a HORSE, in whatever MATCH he may be engaged, and totally depends upon the will of the owner; who is not under the necessity of bringing his RIDER to the scale either before or after the race, in an engagement where "feather weight" is particularly expressed. On the contrary, when a horse runs for any PLATE, MATCH, SWEEPSTAKES, or SUBSCRIPTION, at a fixed weight, according to his AGE, HEIGHTH, or QUALIFICATION, his RIDER must be publicly weighed upon the course previous to starting; and at the termination of every heat, if the rider dismounts before his horse is led up to the SCALES, (generally affixed to the starting-post,) or when there, not weighing his proper weight, the HORSE is deemed distanced, and can start no more for the prize in question.

FEEDER

—is one essential part of a HUNTING ESTABLISHMENT, bearing no ill affinity to the bellows-blower of an ORGANIST; for if the hounds are not well and properly fed, they can never be adequate to the fatigues and difficulties they have to go through. To the FEEDER is submitted the management of the HOUNDS in kennel; but he is always subject to the occasional directions of the HUNTSMAN, whose immediate subordinate he is, and whose dictation he must implicitly obey. He should not only be young, indefatigable, and alert, {250} but fond of his employment; as well as humane and good tempered, for the comfort of the poor animals entrusted to his care, who have not the power to expostulate when ill used, or to remonstrate if their grievances stand in need of redress.

FEET

.—The FEET of HORSES being the very basis of support upon which the safety and expedition of the frame entirely depend, they are entitled to every possible degree of CARE and ATTENTION; more particularly in the WINTER SEASON, when, from neglect, so many ills and inconveniencies are known to arise. The injuries, accidents, and diseases, to which the FEET are constantly {251} liable, consist of CRACKS in the heels, SCRATCHES or lacerations, STUBS and bruises of the outer sole, or upon the verge of the coronet, between hair and hoof, CORNS, SANDCRACKS, THRUSHES, CANKER, QUITTOR, RINGBONE, and FOOT-FOUNDER; exclusive of the frequent injuries sustained in SHOEING, by the ignorance, indolence, or obstinacy of those SMITHS who, having no professional reputation to support, are too innately confident in their own ability to bear instruction.

FERN

—is a plant abounding plentifully in CHACES, BEECHEN WOODS, and COMMONS, and is a seeming diminutive resemblance of our native bulwark the hardy oak, not more in the similitude of its growth, than its appropriation to various purposes of utility. It not only constitutes excellent bedding for cattle in the winter, but has been considered so instrumental to the PRESERVATION of GAME, that laws have been framed to prevent its being wantonly destroyed, or unseasonably perverted, {255} to the interested purposes of private individuals.

FERRET

—is a useful little animal, well known to WARRENERS and RAT-CATCHERS, by whom they are principally bred, as necessary to their own occupations. The ferret is of great spirit, strength, and courage, for its size; is an inveterate enemy to rabbits, rats, and poultry; in the pursuit of which, it will encounter any difficulty or danger, when once put upon the scent. The body is longer in proportion to its height, than almost any other animal, the weazel and stoat excepted. The colour {256} frequently varies, even in the young of the same dam and the same litter; some being black, with white under the belly; some are of a faint straw-colour yellow, and others of a light sandy red. The head is, in its formation, not unlike the mouse; the eyes are small, fiery, having the appearance of red-hot iron, and can consequently distinguish objects in the dark. It has a natural and instinctive propensity to burrowing, and where-ever the head can enter, the rest of the body can easily follow. Whenever the FERRET has secured the prey he is in pursuit of, he extracts the blood with extreme pleasure by suction, but is totally indifferent to the flesh; with the exception of the head of either RABBIT or RAT, the skull of which he directly destroys with his teeth, the better to enjoy an instantaneous and luxurious feast upon the brains.

FETLOCK

.—The part so called is the next joint below the knee, and is formed by the union of the shank-bone, at its bottom, with the upper part of the small bone passing from this junction to the coronary bone at its top. The TENDONS (commonly called the back sinews) have their lower seat of insertion at this joint, which is constantly liable to, and frequently susceptible of, the most serious LAMENESS. As injuries of this joint are sometimes incurable, particularly when occasioned by a twist or ligamentary distortion, one precaution may be prudently retained in memory; that more horses are lamed by short, sudden, and unnatural turns in the narrow stalls of an ill-constructed STABLE, (particularly in the Metropolis,) than by any straitforward means whatever. Tendinous lameness has a much greater chance of early relief, and permanent cure, than an injury sustained at the junction of the bones; for the relaxed tendons being restored to their original elasticity by CORROBORATIVE STIMULANTS, BLISTERING, or FIRING, frequently continue sound during the existence of the horse: on the contrary, a LIGAMENTARY LAMENESS, however {258} it may be relieved, or apparently restored, is always more subject to a relapse or repetition.

FEVER

,—HORSES are subject to, and frequently attacked with, originating in various causes, and acting upon different constitutions in a different way. Judicious discrimination should be made between what is (ab origne) a FEVER within itself, and symptomatic fever, dependent upon, and arising from, another cause. Extreme pain may produce FEVER, as in large formations of matter, where tumours approach gradually to suppuration. Fever may become attendant upon inflammatory cholic, or upon a severe fit of the strangury, or spasmodic affection of the kidnies. In all INFLAMMATIONS of the LUNGS, the fever exceeds description; but these fevers are called SYMPTOMATIC, as being a concomitant, or distinguishing trait, of the DISEASE upon which it is founded, rather than a disease within itself.

FIDGET

,—the name of a horse of much celebrity, who won as many capital stakes as most horses of his time. He was bred by Mr. Vernon; was got by Florizel; dam by Matchem, out of an own sister to Sweetbriar. In the possession of the Duke of Bedford, he became a stallion at Wooburn, and was the sire of Augusta, Cub, Victor, Frisky, Hamadryad, Nestler, Fantail, Zemise, Granadilla, Lady Sarah, St. Vitus; all winners; as well as a great number of colts and fillies, who won large stakes at three and four years old, but ran without a name.

FIGGING

—is the sublime art of insinuating a profusion of false spirit, and artificial fire, into a horse, when offering him for sale. This is done {260} by privately introducing a piece of ginger (previously bitten) within the sphincter of the anus, where, by its painful stimulus, it so irritates the animal, that he seems, by the cocking of his tail, the instantaneous erection of his ears, and the deceptive spirit he displays in action, to be a horse of very superior appearance and value to what he turns out when the stimulus of this deception has subsided.

FILLETS

—are, in more intelligible language, the LOINS of a HORSE, and seated above the flank, beyond the last rib, and in a transverse line with the hip-bone. A horse long in the back, narrow across the loins, and tucked up (greyhound like) in the carcase, is said to be badly made in the FILLETS, or, in other words, weak in the loins.

FILLY

,—the female produce of a HORSE and MARE: she is called a FILLY FOAL the first year; a YEARLING the second; and a FILLY till four years old.

FILM

—appertains to a certain DEFECT, and properly used, applies only to a thickening of the outer coat or humour of THE EYE; in which case relief from external applications may very frequently be obtained: but where any of the internal coverings are become opaque, (and sometimes erroneously {261} called films,) success from topical experiments must not be expected.

FIRETAIL

—was a name given to three famous running horses in succession; the first got by Childers, the second by Squirrel, and the third by Eclipse.

FIRING

—is an operation performed upon different parts of A HORSE for the promotion of any particular purpose, (according to the degree of injury sustained,) and in the following way. The horse being safely secured by twitches and cords, according to the methods in general use, the OPERATOR having his irons in the fire properly heated, and his attendant ready to supply him with another, as often as the fire of the previous iron is exhausted, he proceeds with the edge of the red-hot iron to make longitudinal and transverse strokes in succession, over the whole part where injury has been sustained, and to such extent as circumstances may have rendered necessary; the depth and magnitude of the operation depending upon the severity of the injury, and the length of time since it was sustained. Firing is frequently adopted in strains of the back sinews, where the subject is said to have broken down; likewise for BONE and BLOOD SPAVINS, CURBS, SPLENTS, and partially to prevent a renewal or repetition of SAND-CRACKS, as well as for RINGBONES, and LAMENESS in the round-bone; in the two {262} last, however, it has hardly ever been known of the least utility.

FIRING-IRON

,—the instrument with which the OPERATION of FIRING is performed. It is a piece of iron about fifteen inches long, with a stem terminating in a wooden handle at one end, having a blade of three inches long, and two wide, at the other. This blade is forged flat, and is at the back half an inch in thickness, becoming gradually thinner towards the edge, which is not more than one third what it is at the back. They are formed of different dimensions for different occasions, and three or four are kept in the fire, and used to expedite the operation, where it is carefully and expertly performed.

FISH

.—Reasons are adduced under the head "Angling," why it has been thought unnecessary to enter upon so copious a subject in a work of this kind; but as FISH, FISH PONDS, and FISHERIES, have been found repeatedly worthy the attention of the legislature, for the preservation of PROPERTY and PERSONAL RIGHTS, a concise abstract of the LAWS, as they now stand, respecting those rights, will constitute the whole that can be required, or thought necessary, upon this subject.

FISTULA

.—Any ulcer having a SINUS or pipe of uncertain termination, the inside of which has acquired callosity, and from whence a matter or bloody sanies flows, or may be pressed out, is {267} called a FISTULA. In its more immediate application, it appertains principally to the injury sustained upon the WITHERS of HORSES; pinched by the saddle, or bruised by the harness; in long and severe chases or journies with one, or long continued weight and friction with the other. A repetition of the first cause generally lays the foundation of great trouble; some expence, and no small share of anxiety: attended to upon the first injury, the inflammation frequently submits (and sometimes speedily) to the mildest class of REPELLENTS: a fomentation of hot vinegar twice or thrice, for ten minutes each time, or a few applications of strong VEGETO MINERAL, incorporated with a proportion of camphorated spirits, will generally prevent any farther cause of disquietude.

FLANK of a HORSE

—is the part lying between the last RIB and the HIND QUARTER, reaching from the part of the LOINS nearest the hip-bone, to the bottom of the belly nearest the STIFLE. If a horse is well ribbed up, his flank not hollow, but circularly prominent, and his BACK SHORT, he is then called a "good barrelled horse," and is very seldom deficient in other respects which constitute attraction.

FLEAM

, the well-known instrument used for BLEEDING HORSES. Lancets are preferred by some with thin-skinned and blood-horses. Different kinds of SPRING-FLEAMS have been invented also; but no one has been produced of sufficient merit or utility to entirely supersede the established custom.

FLESHY-FOOTED

.—A horse is said to be FLESHY FOOTED, when that part of the bottom of the foot on each side the FROG (called the OUTER SOLE) is preternaturally prominent, constituting a convexity above the wall or crust of the HOOF, where the shoe should have its proper bearing upon the FOOT of the HORSE. In feet of this description, the outer sole, from repeated bruising and battering in constant work upon hard roads, or from an injudicious and destructive paring away with the butteris, are so exceeding thin as to indent with the slightest impression, and being too weak to resist the membranous expansion within, compulsively submit to the internal propulsion, and are thrown into the projecting form already described. Great care is required in shoeing horses with this defect: the inner part of the web of the shoe should be so completely hollowed as not to admit the least chance of bearing upon the prominent part; if it does, tenderness and disquietude (if not lameness) must inevitably ensue. In cases of this kind, neither the butteris or drawing-knife, should be permitted in hand; they only render the REMEDY worse than the DISEASE.

FLORIZEL

—was a horse of much celebrity upon the TURF, beating most horses of his time; and was afterwards a stallion in great repute for many years. He was got by Herod, dam by Cygnet; bred by Mr. C. Blake, and foaled in 1768. {271} He was the sire of Berwick, Crookshanks, Diomed, King William, Experiment, Fox, Ulysses, Bustler, Dash, Fidget, Fortunio, Hope, Lee Boo, May Fly, Mouse, Mulberry, Nimble, Pig, Prizefighter, Tongs, Hope, Spendthrift, Tick, Tickle, Wonder, Brother to Fidget, (who won 2000 guineas in 1791,) Eager, Hopeful, Lilliput, Nameless, Quick, Terror, Tartar, Hermia, and William; all winners; exclusive of others too numerous to recite.

FOAL

—is the produce of HORSE and MARE in a general sense, including both male and female; but when a more particular description is required, it is customary to say either a COLT, or a FILLY foal.

FOAM

.—See FROTH.

FODDER

.—The winter provender for HORSES and CATTLE is so called, and consists of barley and oat straw, peas haum, the short rakings of the barn floor after threshing the corn, and previous to cleaning it; all which, with good shelter in the most severe and dreary part of the season, constitute no ill accommodation; particularly those FARMYARDS in the country that are well managed, from whence HORSES, after a winter's run, frequently come up FIRM in FLESH, and not very foul in condition. On the contrary, those who are advocates for the STRAW-YARDS within ten or fifteen miles of {272} the Metropolis, had better cut the throats of their HORSES than make the experiment: they barely exist in a state of wretched starvation, are brought up in the months of April and May objects of dreadful emaciation, and commonly occasion more expence to generate flesh, and render them fit for use, than they are afterwards worth. An insufficiency of sweet, good, and healthy FODDER, or even a profusion of stinking oats, or musty hay, will inevitably impoverish the blood, and lay the foundation of SURFEIT, MANGE, FARCY, and other disorders.

FOIL

,—a term used in HARE HUNTING. When, during the chase, a hare, after a head or double, runs over the ground she has ran before, she is then said to be running the foil, and with strict truth, for nothing can so much foil the HOUNDS as a chase of this description. Old hares, who have speed enough to break away, and get considerably a-head, almost invariably throw themselves out to the right or left, double, and QUAT; particularly if a hedge-row, hedge, fern, furze, or any kind of covert presents itself favourably for the purpose. The HOUNDS continuing to run the scent to the spot where she made her head, over-run the hare, and having no continuance of scent, are of course at fault; during which delay of trying forward, trying back, making a cast to the right, then a cast to the left, the HARE slips into her foil; by repeatedly running of which with the same instinctive sagacity, {273} she as repeatedly saves her life; without which, and many similar innate shifts to avoid their numerous enemies, there would not long be a HARE left in the country.

FOLDING-NET

.—See Bat Fowling.

FOMENTATION

—is, perhaps, the most generally useful of all external applications in a great variety of cases, and cannot of course be too well known, or too much encouraged. It is a process but little prescribed or practised by FARRIERS or VETERINARIANS; either because its efficacious property is very little known; or the persevering patience required in the act, is too great for constitutional indolence. In all inflammatory tumours and enlargements arising from STRAINS, BLOWS, BRUISES, and various other injuries, the efficacy of hot and persevering FOMENTATION can only be known to those who have repeatedly experienced its salutary effects. In fact, its properties are twofold, in as much as it assists NATURE in whichever is her most predominant effort, either for absorption or suppuration.

FOOT

.—The foot of a horse extends from the FETLOCK-JOINT to the OUTER SOLE at the bottom of the hoof: it includes the CORONARY-BONE, the NUT-BONE, the COFFIN-BONE, and the inner sole, (or membranous mass,) in which it is deposited; as well as the frog and the wall or hoof surrounding and supporting the whole.—See Feet.

FOOT-FOUNDERED

.—A horse is said to be FOOT-FOUNDEREd when there is an evident defect in action, and a palpable tenderness, which prevents him from putting his feet freely and boldly to the ground. This malady seems never to have been clearly comprehended, or perfectly explained, by any of those who have written upon the subjects included in the general practice of FARRIERY. It is to be observed, that HORSES labouring under this infirmity, have become gradually contracted in the hoof, and proportionally narrowed at the heels, putting their feet before each other with as much fear and caution, as if they were moving upon a sheet of red-hot iron; the RIDER of any such horse, being constantly in the happy expectation of the horse's pitching upon his head, and probably breaking the rider's own neck.

FOREHAND

—implies that part of A HORSE extending from the ears to the withers; which, to be handsome, should be long, and rise gradually from the upper point of the shoulder-blade to the very extremity of the ear. A FOREHAND of this description adds greatly to the majestic appearance and value of the horse. But a horse low before, with a short forehand, and indented crest, can never become an object of attraction.

FOREHEAD

.—The forehead is the front of the horse's head; to observe the form and effect of which, it will be necessary to get before him. It is the space extending from the roots of the ears, and between the eyes, which being BROAD and FLAT, having a feather or star in the center, constitutes a degree of beauty, and may be supposed to have a cross of the Arabian in the blood. If a horse, having a wide flat forehead, has the advantage of a full prominent spirited eye, they at the first approach afford no small indication of excellence; and, upon nearer inspection, a corresponding symmetry is expected to follow.

FORE-LEGS

.—The fore-legs of a horse begin at the lower extremity of the SHOULDER-BLADE before, and the ELBOW behind: they consist of what are termed the ARMS, (or fore thighs,) which extend to each KNEE; the shank-bone from the knee to the FETLOCK JOINT; the fetlock-bone is continued from thence to the CORONARY-BONE, into which it is inserted; the coronary-bone in part fills the cavity, or box of the hoof, being lodged in the COFFIN-BONE, supported by the nut-bone behind; these last are deposited in the membranous mass denominated the INNER SOLE; the whole being terminated by the bottom of the hoof, the frog, and the outer sole. The FORE-LEGS, to be uniform, (in a front view,) should be wide at the upper part next the breast, strong and broad in the ARM, bony below the KNEE, free from SPLENTS, a broad sound HOOF, firm SOLE, and a FROG without thrushes.

FOREST

.—A FOREST is a large tract of land in pasture, many miles in extent and circumference, the property of THE CROWN, mostly well stocked with timber, (from whence the navy is supplied,) as well as with a variety of underwood, furze, fern, &c. for the breeding and preservation of both VENISON and GAME. Forests are of great antiquity, and their immunities are protected by laws peculiarly and solely adapted to their preservation; the execution of which are lodged in principal officers, and their subordinates, as follows; JUSTICES in {281} EYRE, CHIEF WARDENS, VERDERERS, REGARDERS, FORESTERS, WOODWARDS, AGISTORS, RANGERS, BEADLES, and KEEPERS.

FOREST LAWS

—are the laws framed for the protection of VERT and VENISON within the precincts of a forest. It is the business, and the duty, of all subordinate officers, to apprehend offenders of whatever description, and present them to the FOREST COURTS, in order to their being punished according to the magnitude of the offence they may have committed.

FOREST COURTS

—are the courts occasionally held for executing the FOREST LAWS. The principal of which is, the Court of the Chief Justice in Eyre; this is a court of record, and is held only once in three years. The Court of Swainmote consists of the verderers, who, in some degree, are the JUDGES; as they receive presentments, and hear evidence, as well as enquire of offences to convict, but cannot pass judgment, that power being reserved to the Court of the Chief Justice (called "JUSTICE SEAT") alone. The Court of Swainmote can only be held three times a year. The Court of Attachment is likewise a meeting of the VERDERERS, {283} and held once in six weeks, being called the "FORTY DAYS COURT."

FORM

—is the spot in which the HARE takes her seat at the dawn of day, to secrete herself, after making her various work in the night (or rather in the early part of the morning) to avoid discovery. When found sitting, she is said to be in her FORM. If shot as she sits, without being previously disturbed, she is then said to have been shot in her form. Hares vary their sitting according to the season, the sun, and the wind. Soon after harvest they are found in wheat, barley, and oat stubbles, as well {284} as in rushy grassy moors; after these get bare, they retire to coverts, banks, hedges, and hedge-rows. After Christmas, and in the spring months, dry fallows, particularly those laying towards the sun with an ascent, are seldom without hares, if there are any in the neighbourhood.

FOUL-FEEDERS

—See Appetite.

FOWL

.—Fowl, properly arranged, may be classed under three distinct heads; as DOMESTIC FOWL, consisting of cocks, hens, geese, and ducks. Wild fowl, comprehending, in the general sporting acceptation, only birds of flight and passage, as sea-gulls and geese, wild ducks, widgeon, teal, curlews, plover, woodcocks, and snipes. Game fowl, in the earliest Acts of Parliament, for its preservation, were extended to a very long list, including even the "Heron," the "Mallard," the "Duck," and the "Teal:" these, however, seem to be buried in a legal oblivion, and the whole at present to centre in the PHEASANT, the PARTRIDGE, the GROUSE, or red game, and the HEATH FOWL, or black game; the laws respecting which individually, will be found under their distinct and separate heads.

FOWLING

—is a term in some degree PROVINCIAL, being used in a different sense in one county to what it is in another. In fenny countries, FOWLING {285} applies generally to the pursuit of water fowl, and the act of obtaining or taking them with either NET or GUN. In other parts, FOWLING appertains only to the sport of taking partridges with a NET and SETTING DOG. With FARMERS, and the middling class of rustics, particularly in remote parts, fowling and shooting are synonimous terms.

FOWLING-BAG, or NET.

—A bag or net is so called, which hangs by the side of a SPORTSMAN, suspended from a leathern belt passing round the neck over his shoulder, for the purpose of receiving such GAME as he may be able "to bag," or "bring to net."

FOWLING-PIECE

—has been generally used to imply a GUN of any description, so far as it was applicable to the purpose of killing GAME, or, in fact, WILD FOWL of any kind. It is, however, now more properly applied to those of five or six feet in the barrel, principally made use of for killing SEA and WATER FOWL, as Wild or Solan Geese, Wild Ducks, Widgeon, Teal, &c.

FOX

.—The FOX is that well-known native animal of this country whose instinctive cunning has rendered it proverbial: they are common in most parts of the kingdom, (as well as in Scotland,) but vary so much in size, that a late writer has extended his description to three different and distinct kinds. He says, "There are three varieties of fox with {286} us, differing in form, but not in colour, except the cur FOX, whose tip of the tail is black: they are distinguished by the names of the GREYHOUND FOX, which is the tallest and boldest, and is chiefly found in the mountainous parts of England and Scotland, and will attack a well-grown sheep. The MASTIFF FOX is less, but his limbs more strongly formed. The CUR FOX is the least, the most common, and is the most pernicious to GAME, approaches nearer to the habitations of mankind, lurks about the out-houses of the FARMER, and destroys all the POULTRY it can get at."

FOX-HUNTING

—has been for time immemorial a favourite sport with the natives of this kingdom, particularly in the prime of life; the pleasing exercise, and bodily exertion, contributing greatly to the PRESERVATION of HEALTH; but the fatigue and danger render it but ill-adapted to the AGED, the INFIRM, and the VALETUDINARIAN. The persevering speed and fortitude of the GAME, the constantly {292} improving high mettled excellence of the HOUNDS, the invincible spirit of the HORSES, and the unrestrained ardour of their RIDERS, have given it a decided superiority over every other FIELD SPORT ever yet known to the people of this country. Its salutary effect upon both the BODY and MIND, has established its enjoyment upon a basis too broad ever to be shaken, even by time itself: the superlative pleasure of every scene, the diversities of the aggregate, and the extacy with which the whole is embraced by its infinity of devotees, have reduced the sport to a system of perfection never before known; and in this some of the most LEARNED, the most EMINENT, and the most OPULENT characters are principally and personally engaged in nearly every county, from one extremity of the kingdom to the other.

FREE WARREN

.—A FREE WARREN is a term totally distinct from FOREST, CHACE, PARK, MANOR, or WARREN; it is a franchise derived originally from the Crown; and the person having a grant of free warren over certain lands, possesses a SOLE RIGHT of pursuing, taking, and killing GAME of every kind within its limits; although there may be no one acre of land his own property through the whole district where he is possessed of this right. There are instances where a variety of circumstances render manorial rights and privileges so complex, and seemingly indefinite, as to produce litigation without personal enmity, but merely that the right {294} shall be LEGALLY ascertained. It appears that where MANOR LANDS are situate in, and surrounded by, a FREE WARREN, the owner of such lands may kill game within his own manor, but he cannot introduce even a qualified person to KILL GAME there also, without the consent of the owner or possessor of the privilege of FREE WARREN over the whole; if so, the person introduced killing game, will be liable to an action for trespass, which action will lie.

FRET

.—The disorder which (in the country) is called by this name, is the FLATULENT CHOLIC, and occasioned from a retention of wind, and a rarefaction of air in the intestinal canal. It is immediately discoverable by the fulness and extreme tension of the carcase, the agonizing pain of the horse, the rumbling of the confined air, the partial and very trifling expulsions of wind, the laboured respiration, frequent groaning, suddenly laying down, and as hastily rising, constant looking back to the flank on one side or the other, as if soliciting relief from those who surround him. The great and leading object is, to promote a plentiful EXPULSION of WIND: this is in general followed by excrementitious discharges, by which ease is obtained, and the disorder near at an end. Warm, spicy, aromatic CARMINATIVES, blended with ANODYNES, are the medicines best adapted to this species of CHOLIC, and to which it speedily submits; more particularly if plenty of ASSISTANTS are at hand to bestow the necessary portion of flank rubbing, (and belly wisping,) to an unceasing perseverance in which, success is equally to be depended upon with the administration of MEDICINE; as in most cases {297} little is to be expected from one without collateral aid from the other.

FROG

,—in HORSES, is the centrical soft kind of horny substance at the bottom of the foot, spreading wide from the heel, having a cleft in the middle, and terminating in a point toward the toe. To the internal parts the lower extremity of the TENDONS are attached, and the FROG is the basis by which their elasticity is supported, and from whence is derived the deceptive reasoning, that the FROG must indispensibly (in action) touch the ground. The frog is subject to a defect, called the FRUSH, or THRUSH, and this, when become virulent, is termed running thrush: it sometimes arises from internal heat, by standing too much upon foul hot litter, (particularly in the livery stables of the Metropolis,) as well as from a STAGNANT state of the FLUIDS in the extremities, for want of proper exercise, leg rubbing, and keeping the feet clean.

FROTH

.—A HORSE displaying a profusion of FROTH when champing upon the BIT, either in action upon the road, or in the FIELD with HOUNDS, may be considered a distinguishing, and almost invariable sign of both good spirit and sound bottom; for a dull jade, or a HORSE of the sluggish cart breed, is very rarely to be seen with this appearance. It is also no inferior criterion of HEALTH, and may, in general, be considered truly {298} indicative of CONDITION: few, if any, horses of this description flag upon a journey, or tire in the field.

FRUSH

.—A disorder or defect in the centrical cleft of the FROG, at the bottom of the foot, was formerly so called; but is now more generally known under the denomination of Thrush, which SEE.

FUMIGATION

—is a most useful PROCESS in all cases where the DISEASES of HORSES particularly affect the HEAD. In recent colds, obstinate coughs, glandular tumefactions under the jaws, STRANGLES, INFLAMMATION of the LUNGS, low fevers, and even in dulness, over-fatigue, or when a horse is off his appetite, and refuses food, it is very frequently of perceptible utility. Horses may be fumigated by boiling ROSEMARY, LAVENDER, MARSHMALLOW LEAVES, and CAMMOMILE FLOWERS, in a few quarts of water over the fire for a quarter of an hour, then straining off the liquor, and strewing the hot herbs from one end of the manger to the other, fastening the horse's head up with the rack rein, by which means he cannot evade the EFFLUVIA. In want of these, or where they are difficult to obtain, a mash made of GROUND MALT, with boiling water, is a very substantial and proper substitute, into which stir two ounces of aniseed, and two ounces of carraway seeds, both fresh, and {299} previously beaten to powder in a mortar. This mash most HORSES will afterwards EAT, when sufficiently cold for the purpose; which, with the effect of the fumes upon the THROAT, the NOSTRILS, the GLANDS, and the HEAD, in general will promote a discharge, and relieve the subject.

FUNGUS

—is the too-fast shooting granulations of new flesh during the incarnation of WOUNDS, particularly in HORSES, with whom it is invariably exuberant, and requires some degree of judgment in the suppression: it is too frequently attempted by Roman vitriol, corrosive sublimate, and other caustics; but they are only productive of disappointment, in constituting an eschar upon the surface, and leaving the cure at a more remote and uncertain distance, than before their application. Slight scarifications, both transverse and longitudinal, with a LANCET or BISTORY, is a far preferable mode of treatment, and that followed by a dressing of lint covered with proper digestives.

FURNITURE HORSE

.—In many parts of the United Kingdom, the SADDLE, BRIDLE, CLOTHS, and every other part appertaining to the body of the horse, passes under the denomination of horse furniture.

GALLS, or GALLING

.—Lacerations occasioned by the too tight pressure and friction of an uneasy and ill-fitted saddle, or heavy harness, are so called. They are seldom seen with either the judicious or the enlightened; experience having taught both how to appreciate PREVENTION. The prudent SPORTSMAN will never take his horse to the field, nor the humane driver his carriage-horse to the road, till personal examination has convinced him the necessary apparatus is not only firm, but proportionally easy; and this should become the more predominant in memory, because it is natural to conclude, no man existing would, by neglect or inattention, give pain to the very animal from whose exertions he is to derive his own PLEASURE.

GALLOP

—is one pace of THE HORSE, well known by that general name; though it will admit of gradational distinctions. A CANTER is the slowest gallop, in which a horse bears most upon his haunches, but lightly on the bit; it is a pace which spirited, good-tempered horses seem to enjoy, and is peculiarly calculated for the accommodation of a lady. A RATING-GALLOP is the increase of action to such pace, as the particular horse may or can go with ease at his rate in common stroke without being exerted to speed; and this is the HUNTING GALLOP of thorough BRED HORSES, who will always lay by the side of HOUNDS at it, without being in the least distrest. A BRUSHING GALLOP upon the TURF, implies an increased degree of velocity, but not equal to utmost speed.

GALLOPADE

—is a term in the MILITARY MANEGE.

GALLOWAY

—is the appellation given to that useful kind of small horse from THIRTEEN to FOURTEEN HANDS high; they are rarely to be seen of exact SYMMETRY, uniform STRENGTH, and adequate ACTION; but, if well-bred, their qualifications, and endurance of fatigue, exceeds description.

GAMBLERS

—consist of two sets; first, those whose thirst for GAMING, (called PLAY) is insatiate, and who have PROPERTY to LOSE; these are GENTLEMEN, who, possessing a refined sense of HONOR themselves, never meanly descend to suspect the INTEGRITY of others. An accurate description of their opponents will be found under the head "Black Legs," where the practices of "the family" are more fully explained.

GAME

—for the preservation of which such a succession of LAWS have been enacted, were, in many of the former preambles to the different ACTS of Parliament, extended to "the Heron, Pigeon, Mallard, Duck, Teal, Widgeon, or any such Fowl;" but in the present construction, GAME is generally considered to imply no more than the HARE, PHEASANT, PARTRIDGE, HEATH-FOWL, and MOOR GAME, which are the whole of what is intentionally included {303} in the GAME LAWS; and what persons possessed of certain qualifications, as well as an ANNUAL CERTIFICATE, are empowered to kill. Deer of every description are also denominated GAME; but they are protected by LAWS appropriate to their peculiar preservation. Rabbits were also included in many of the earliest acts relating to GAME, but are now considered of no consequence, except in WARRENS, where being private property, and productive of annual profit, they have LAWS for the security of THE OWNER, with very heavy penalties annexed to their destruction. Proprietors of DOVE-HOUSE PIGEONS have likewise legal means of redress, upon their pigeons being wantonly shot at or destroyed. The mallard, wild-duck, widgeon, teal, &c. are not without LAWS for their increase, and proportional preservation. See Decoy.

GAME COCK

.—The true-bred GAME COCK is a species of fowl almost peculiar to this country; his natural and instinctive courage will never permit him to yield to an opponent, however he may be superior in WEIGHT and STRENGTH; but he will, even under those disadvantages, continue to fight till literally cut to pieces. After the loss of eyes, with the body wounded and perforated in every part, when even the use of his legs are gone, and he is no longer able to stand, but lays extended upon the sod, with his victorious opponent exultingly {304} CROWING over his mangled frame, he will continue to shew fight with his beak, to the last remains of life.

GAMING

—is that destructive vice which has annihilated some of the most princely fortunes in this, and, perhaps, in every other kingdom: it is a whirlwind of devastating infatuation, which destroys every thing before it: like the effect of unrestrained fire, it continues its ravages so long as there is a single combustible to feed the flame. The most MAGNIFICENT MANSIONS, the most LORDLY POSSESSIONS, the most MAJESTIC "towering woods," and the most extensive FERTILE VALES, have been {309} in one night swept away by this infernal and definitive propensity. Thousands, educated in AFFLUENCE, and left in a state of the most flourishing INDEPENDENCE, have been reduced to the greatest want, and died miserable repentants within the dreary CONFINES of a PRISON, by the certain effect of an attachment to this most dreadful of all vices, which the united WISDOM of the Legislature has so strenuously endeavoured to suppress. Laws have been framed, and are rigidly enforced, for its prevention; heavy STAMP DUTIES have been laid upon CARDS and DICE, that those who use them may voluntarily contribute to the support of the State, by which both person and property are protected; and, as a farther proportional prohibition, no GAMING DEBT is recoverable BY LAW where the sum sued for shall exceed TEN POUNDS. See Betting.

GAMING-HOUSES

—are those infamous NOCTURNAL RECEPTACLES of the most abandoned iniquity, where such scenes of villainy are in perpetual practice, that the most fertile pen must be inadequate to even a tolerable representation. These houses in the Metropolis, are, by the SPORTING WORLD, denominated "Hells;" and so truly are they entitled to that sublime distinction, that the whole FORCE of MAGISTRACY has been most laudably and successfully exerted against them without exception. Houses of this description are appropriated only to the purposes of play, and that of the {310} most unfair description. They are kept by SYSTEMATIC DEPREDATORS, "who shun the light;" men who have no credit to support, no reputation to lose; and who are as completely lost to every sense of shame, as they are completely banished from the respectable classes of society. Here it is where the young, the inexperienced, the injudicious, and the inconsiderate, sacrifice not only their OWN, and often the property of OTHERS, but prostitute also that most invaluable GEM their INTEGRITY, and with it a PEACE of MIND never to be restored.

GAME-KEEPERS

—are persons delegated by legal prescription, to provide GAME for the purposes of those by whom they are appointed, to PRESERVE and PROTECT it against a class of adventurers (denominated poachers) by night, as well as an unfair or improper destruction of it by day. Every LORD or LADY of a MANOR are authorized, by writing under their hands and seals, to empower a GAME-KEEPER to kill within the said manor, any HARE, PHEASANT, PARTRIDGE, or other game. If, however, such game-keeper shall sell or dispose of the game he shall so kill, without the knowledge or consent of the said LORD or LADY, and shall be convicted, upon the oath of one witness, before a Justice of Peace, he shall be committed to the house of correction, and kept to hard labour for three months.

GAME LAWS

.—The laws framed for the PRESERVATION of THE GAME, are, by the different {314} Acts of Parliament, during several successive reigns, become so truly voluminous, and in many instances thought so truly complex, that it is impracticable to reduce any moderate abridgement of the whole within the intentional limits of this Work. But as many of the former Acts (at least many of the clauses in those Acts) though unrepealed, are in practice almost obsolete, it is proposed (divested of legal tautology) to bring a review of the existing parts of the GAME LAWS as they now stand, and as they are now acted upon, into as concise a point of view as the subject will admit; and so perfectly free from ambiguity, as to be rendered perfectly clear to the most moderate comprehension: at least as much so, as can be expected upon LAWS, that, after all the refinement of CENTURIES, after all the investigation and deliberation of the different Legislatures, and the advantages derived also from the sage opinions of the most learned in THE LAW, are certainly less respected, and less effectual, than any other part of the code to be found in the statute books of this realm. Whether it is, that they are less understood, less palatable to those interested in their effect, or but feebly and partially executed, is a matter only to be ascertained by time, and such future arrangements as may probably take place.

GAMES of ART

—are those in which the skill, judgment, and penetration of the player are immediately concerned, and upon which alone his success must entirely depend. In this class are included Billiards, Chess, Draughts, Cricket, Fives, Tennis, Bowls, and some others, as well as a few upon the Cards; but as the latter are always subject to DECEPTION, and completely subservient to the slipping, sliding, and cutting of the most FAMILIAR FRIENDS, (even in private families,) they are, with propriety, much more entitled to the appellation of CHANCE than of ART, particularly where the unsuspecting player has the perpetual chance of being ROBBED, without the mortification of knowing the main-spring of depredation. However expert those may be, who indulge and excel in GAMES of ART, two things should ever be predominant in memory; always to play with an invariable philosophic PATIENCE and SERENITY, never to seem affected by a temporary run of ill-luck or momentary advantage, any more than agitated by the exulting irritation of a successful opponent. The run on one side may as suddenly be reversed to the other; a chance that petulance and ill-humour may probably destroy. Prudent players never engage in matches of any kind where four or more are concerned, except amongst their most intimate acquaintance; particularly at the public tables of the Metropolis, where it is the custom for three to poll one, and divide the spoils after the {323} PIDGEON has been plucked; a very fashionable mode of playing at both BILLIARDS and WHIST; by which an infinity of necessitous and unprincipled adventurers procure a daily subsistence.

GAMES of CHANCE

.—Those games are so called, which depend solely upon the turning up of a CARD, or the uncertain "HAZARD of THE DIE." When fairly played, without any latent deception on one side or the other, they are considered truly equitable between the players, who are then said "to PLAY UPON THE SQUARE," without a point of advantage, the whole being dependent upon, and decided by, the EFFECT of CHANCE. The celebrated nocturnal game of Hazard, at which such immense property is annually LOST and WON, at the most fashionable and powerfully-supported GAMING HOUSES, is known to be the first and fairest GAME of CHANCE, upon which an adventurer (determined to encounter the probability of ruin) can possibly venture to STAKE HIS MONEY: on the contrary, it must be admitted, that the torrent of villainy, and unprincipled prostitution of affected integrity, have made such rapid and unprecedented strides to perfection, that the most experienced SPORTSMEN must despair of being enabled to play upon the square, after so many GAMBLERS of FASHION have, within a few years, been detected with loaded dice in their possession.

GANGRENE

—is a technical term, which in FARRIERY, as in SURGERY, implies the first stage of MORTIFICATION or PUTREFACTION.

GASCOIN, or GASKIN

,—of a horse, is that part of the hind quarter extending from the stifle (or inferior point of the thigh approaching the belly) to the bend of the hock behind; upon the shape, strength, and uniformity of which, the property, action, and excellence of the horse very much depends. If the GASKINS are wide, and divide below the tail in a curvilinear arch on the inside, with a prominent swell of the muscle on the outside, it is not only indicative of great strength, but adds considerably to the symmetry and value of the horse, when viewed behind. A horse well {325} formed in the gaskins, is seldom badly shaped in the fore quarters; nor are they, in general, horses of inferior action; exclusive of which, they are insured from the very aukward DEFECT of cutting; no small inconvenience to a TRAVELLER with a weary horse upon a long journey.

GATE-NET

.—A GATE-NET is a principal part of the stock in trade of an expert and experienced POACHER; and, in respect to HARES, the most destructive nocturnal instrument that can be brought into use. They, at a certain hour in the dead of night, when hares are sure to be at feed, are fixed to the third bar of the gates of such fields as have green wheat, young clover, or any other where (by daily observation) they are known to use; when being fattened to the ground under the lower bar by means of wooden forked pegs, a lurcher is turned over the gate, who having been trained to the business, and running mute, scours the field in a circuitous direction; when the victims, thus suddenly and unexpectedly alarmed, make immediately for the gate, (by which they entered,) when the dog being close at their heels, at least not far behind them, they have no alternative, but to rush into the net, where becoming entangled, they meet their destruction. In this way three or four brace are taken in a plentiful country at one adventure. The only likely mode of rendering such attempts abortive, is by painting the lower bars of the gate {326} white, which will occasion the hares to shun the gateway, and have recourse to their meuses; if GAME-KEEPERS and SPORTSMEN will but occasionally examine which, to take up the well-intended wires, it will, at any rate, go a great way towards preventing such incredible havoc and wholesale destruction.

GAZEHOUND

;—the name by which the species of DOG we now term GREYHOUND was formerly called. With what propriety an animal of almost every colour should be equally denominated grey, does not appear; any more than at what particular period the change in appellation may have taken place. As the pursuit of the GREYHOUND is entirely by sight, and not by scent, it should seem that GAZEHOUND would be the most proper distinction of the two, and that the present is no more than a perversion from the original.

GELDING

—implies a horse divested of his TESTICLES, by which he is deprived of the act of COPULATION, and of farther PROPAGATION. For particulars of the operation, see Castration.

GIFT of GOING

—is a phrase from the sublime vocabulary of the horse-dealing fraternity, and implies a horse's possessing a much greater portion of speed in action, particularly in TROTTING, than could well be expected from his shape and external {327} appearance. When a horse is shewn for sale, having little to recommend him, rough in his coat, low in condition, aukward in shape, and without a single point of attraction, if he can scramble along at the rate of twelve or thirteen miles an hour, he is then said to possess the "gift of going," which is to compensate for every other deficiency.

GIMCRACK

,—the name of a horse who was of great celebrity upon the turf, and for two or three years beat most of his time. He was foaled in 1760; got by Cripple, (a son of the Godolphin Arabian;) dam by Grisewood's Partner, and his pedigree was of the best blood; but being too small for a stallion of eminence, produced no winners of note. He was followed by young Gimcrack, a good horse for GIVE and TAKE PLATES, particularly at four heats.

GINGER

—is an aromatic spicy root, brought to us from the East and West Indies, in a preserved as well as in its natural state. In the former it is used as a stomachic and sweetmeat by the superior orders: in the latter it is common in all the shops, consisting of flat-knotted branches, of which the whitest, and least stringy or fibrous, are the best. It is a very useful ingredient in many compositions for the internal diseases of horses, particularly in the FLATULENT CHOLIC, commonly called FRET. Houses in the country, remote from towns, {328} where horses are used and fed upon peas haum, and other winter fodder, frequently producing such disorders, should never be without a small quantity of this article: two ounces bruised, and boiled in ALE or GRUEL, then drained off, and the liquor given with a horn, would prove an excellent substitute for medicine upon many emergencies.

GIGS

;—a term almost obsolete for what are now called FLAPS, a kind of flaccid fleshy enlargement on each side a horse's jaw, which, in his mastication, frequently falling between the grinders, is productive of pain, and prevents the horse from eating. If they are long and thin, they may be completely taken off by a pair of scissars, and the wounds washed with a strong solution of alum in water: if they are too fleshy and substantial for this mode of extirpation, they may be slightly scarified with a BISTORY, or ABSCESS LANCET, and after having been left to bleed for a proper length of time, may be stopped, and the parts constringed by the solution already described.

GIRTHS

—are those well-known articles made from woollen web, and used for keeping the saddle in a safe and proper position. These, to prevent GALLING, should be made of ELASTIC, and not the tight wove web, which being more rigid and harsh, is the more likely to LACERATE during the heat and friction of a long chase. Observation should be {329} made that girths are never too short, so as to have the buckle below the pad of the saddle, either on one side or the other; for want of which judicious and sportsman-like attention, WARBLES, SITFASTS, and WOUNDS, very frequently ensue.

GIVE and TAKE PLATES

—are those where the HORSES carry WEIGHT according to their HEIGHT, by the regulated standard of four inches to a HAND. The fixed rules for a GIVE and TAKE are, that horses measuring FOURTEEN HANDS, are each to carry nine stone; above or below which height, they are to carry seven pounds, more or less, for every inch they are HIGHER or LOWER than the FOURTEEN HANDS fixed as the criterion.—Example: a horse measuring FOURTEEN HANDS, one inch and a half, will carry nine stone, ten pounds, eight ounces; a horse measuring THIRTEEN HANDS, two inches and a half, will carry only eight stone, three pounds, eight ounces; the former being one inch and a half above the FOURTEEN HANDS, the other one inch and a half below it. The weight is, therefore, added, or diminished, by the eighths of every inch, higher or lower weight in proportion; and these PLATES were so exceedingly popular some few years since, that very few country courses were without one of this description.

GLANDERS

—is, perhaps, without exception, the most dreadful, and certainly destructive, disease {330} to which the horse is incident. No exertions have been wanting on the part of the most eminent professional men (particularly in France) to discover the means of successfully counteracting the justly-dreaded virulence of this disorder; but hitherto with so little the appearance of progress, that it is almost an invariable custom to render the subject an immediate VICTIM to DEATH, so soon as he is ascertained to have become the VICTIM of DISEASE. There are never wanting SPECULATORS, or SPECULATIVE WRITERS, so long as "a doubt remains to hang a loop upon;" and many of these both speak and write as prompted by their pecuniary sensations, and the sale of the NOSTRUM it is their personal interest to promote. These, of course, promulgate not the probability, but the certainty, of cure, and may, in so doing, possibly prey upon the credulity of those who are equally strangers to the origin of this disease, its progress, its effects, or its termination.

GNAWPOST

—was a country PLATE HORSE of some celebrity, winning several for some years in succession. He was bred by Mr. Shaftoe; was foaled in 1767; and got by Snap out of Miss Cranbourne, who was got by the Godolphin Arabian, and bred by the then great Duke of Cumberland.

GOLDFINDER

;—the name of one of the molt valuable and successful horses ever bred or trained in this kingdom: he beat nearly every horse of his time, and won almost every stakes he started for. He was bred by Mr. Shaftoe; foaled in 1764; got by Snap; dam by Blank; grand-dam by Regulus, and the six preceding generations {333} by Arabians, Barbs, and Turks, up to the natural Barb mare, constituting one of the richest pedigrees in the annals of RACING BLOOD.

GODOLPHIN ARABIAN

—was the property of Lord Godolphin, and produced more capital winners as A STALLION, than any horse that covered before his time in this kingdom. His progeny became equally eminent as stallions, to the whole of which are we principally indebted for the unprecedented eminence and superiority of the various studs so plentifully established in different parts of the country. He was the sire of Cade, Regulus, Blank, Babraham, Bajazet, and a long list of et ceteras. See Barbs.

"GONE AWAY!"

—is the exhilarating communicative HOLLOA! from one sportsman to another in STAG or FOX hunting, when the game breaks from large coverts, and goes away; at which time, if it was not for this friendly rule, invariably observed, those who happen to be up the wind, would be inevitably thrown out, and the hounds have got miles, before the most distant part of the field knew any thing of the matter. To prevent the mortifying probability of which, those nearest the chace and the hounds, instantly vociferate the enlivening signal of, "GONE AWAY!". This being repeated by the next in succession, it is re-echoed by a third, and so on till it vibrates through the {334} whole chain; and it must be acknowledged, there is not a more gratifying moment in the progress of a chase, than to see the distant effort of every individual, to recover his lost ground, and get in with the hounds.

GORGED

;—the common and vulgar term for swelled legs, when their enlarged and distended state has been occasioned more by severe and hard work, than the effect of HUMOURS originating in a fizey or morbid state of the blood. A horse having his back sinews flushed, and legs thickened, so as to go short and stiff in action, but not broken down, is said to be gorged. Having the same appearances from humours, or a viscidity of the blood, he is then said to be foul, and must be relieved by PURGATIVES or DIURETICS, assisted by a great deal of hand-rubbing and regular friction. Gorged horses should be blistered, and turned out in time, by which they frequently get fresh again: continued at work too long, they break down, and become cripples.

GOULARD

.—The article so well known by this name, and so constantly brought into use upon many emergencies, is the EXTRACT of LEAD; which is prepared by, and may be obtained of, almost every druggist in the kingdom. Its excellent properties are universally admitted as a CORROBORANT, a REPELLENT, a SOLVENT, and an almost infallible {335} remedy in well-proportioned topical applications to inflammations, strains, bruises, or recent tumefactions: but some degree of professional knowledge, and experimental practice, is necessary to insure a probable certainty of effect. Upon the first discovery of this article, it was brought into use in very small quantities, and a teaspoonful or two only were directed to be added to a quart of spring water, which was then termed Vegeto Mineral Water, and in certain cases (particularly of the eyes) looked up to as A SPECIFIC. Long experience, and attentive observation, have, however, justified its utility in much larger proportions, particularly with HORSES; where, in severe strains, or long-standing lamenesses, less than four ounces to a pint of CAMPHORATED spirits cannot be brought into use with any expectation of success.——As a mild repellent to SWELLINGS, BRUISES, WARBLES, &c. two ounces of the extract, two ounces of camphorated spirits, and a pint of water, will be a proper proportion. In defluxions and inflammation of the eyes, one ounce of each, with a pint and half of water, will be found a very useful composition.

GOURDINESS

—is another rustic or provincial term for SWELLED LEGS, but of a different description, implying the kind of dropsical laxity of the SOLIDS, submitting to pressure, and recovering from its indentation when the pressure is removed. This kind of swelling is a gradual approach {336} to the disorder called GREASE, at which it will soon arrive, if not counteracted speedily, by such EVACUANTS and ALTERATIVES as may be thought most applicable to the case.

GRASS

—is that well-known produce of the earth, which is the proper food for horses in a state of NATURE, EASE, and INDOLENCE; but not of sufficient nutritive property for horses engaged in either SEVERE, LABORIOUS, or ACTIVE exertions. Horses taken up from grass, and put suddenly to work, labour under an immediate and perceptible disquietude; the contents of the intestines are soon evacuated in a STATE of LAXITY, the frame displays a profusion of FOUL and FŒTID PERSPIRATION, the body bespeaks its own DEBILITY, and the perseverance of a few days demonstrates its EMACIATION. To horses having been whole months in constant use and work, alternately accustomed to diurnal drudgery, and the routine of the manger, GRASS, with its conjunctive LIBERTY, must prove a sweet, a comfortable, a proper, and a healthy change: it not only, by its own attenuating property, proportionally alters the PROPERTY of the BLOOD, but affords, by the comforts of EASE and EXPANSION, a renovation of elasticity and vigour to the relaxed sinews, the exhausted spirits, and the battered frame.

GRAVELLED

.—A horse is said, by the lower classes, to be GRAVELLED, when broken particles of flints, or small pebbles, are insinuated between the outer SOLE of the FOOT and the WEB of the SHOE. This injury is seldom sustained, but where the shoe is formed too flat upon the inner surface, (without its proper protecting concavity,) when pressing too close, whatever extraneous substance gains admission, is there confined, and, from the stricture, has no possible chance of extrication. The degree of pain, or tenderness, depends entirely upon the mildness or severity of the case, and the length of its duration. The road to relief is the same; the {339} shoe should be tenderly taken off, by one nail at a time, in preference to tearing it off by main and sudden force, (according to custom;) the sole should be well fomented with good hot milk and water, then covered with an EMOLLIENT POULTICE of linseed powder, milk, and two table spoonsful of olive oil, letting the same be repeated daily, till the inflammation has subsided, and the tenderness gone off; when the bottom of the hoof may be hardened by two or three applications of a sponge dipt in vinegar boiling hot before THE SHOE is replaced.

GREASE

.—The GREASE is a disorder particularly affecting the CART or DRAFT HORSES of this country, but is seldom or rarely observed amongst horses of a superior description: its seat is cutaneous, and it first discovers itself by a stagnation of the fluids, and as consequent inflammatory enlargement above and about the fetlock, attended with pain and stiffness, more or less, according to the state of the subject, or the severity of the attack. If proper means are not immediately taken, and judiciously persevered in, a degree of virulence, much trouble, and tedious attendance, unavoidably ensue. The skin, by its preternatural distension, soon assumes a greasy kind of transparency, having an irregular scaly appearance upon the surface, from whence (particularly when put into action) exudes a thin oily ICHOR, which, when become of {340} long duration, is frequently tinged WITH BLOOD, but always of a filthy unctuous property, and greasy to the touch.

GREY

.—The COLOUR of a HORSE is so called, where dark-coloured or BLACK hairs are proportionally intermixed with WHITE: some of those are beautifully mottled upon the rump, down the hind quarters, and across the gaskins, and are then called DAPPLED GREYS. It is admitted by the old proverb, and verified by all opinions, that "a GOOD horse can never be of a BAD colour:" there is, however, an exception to the adage, in a white or a light grey; for, by laying down with the hind quarter, on one side or the other, in the dung newly fallen, it is no uncommon thing to have a daily washing, and drying, before a horse of such colour can be taken out of the stable either to WORK or to EXERCISE.

GREYHOUND

.—The particular species of DOG passing under the denomination of greyhound, was formerly called GAZEHOUND, and is at the present day more universally known by the appellation of LONG DOG in many parts of the kingdom. The breed has been at all times carefully cultivated by the lovers of coursing, but has never been brought to so great a degree of enthusiastic perfection, as since the establishment of the different COURSING CLUBS and SOCIETIES in Norfolk, Essex, Berkshire, and the Flixton Wolds of Yorkshire. The members of each have, with an unremitting perseverance, endeavoured to excel each other with an unalloyed spice of SPORTING EMULATION: the late Lord Orford; the Marquis of Townsend; Colonel Thornton, of Thornville Royal; Major Topham, of the Wolds, and the Reverend H. Bate Dudley, of the Bradwell and Tillingham Club, in Essex, are those who have excelled every competitor, and improved the breed to the highest possible state of perfection.

GRIPES

.—The disorder this term is meant to imply, is more properly distinguished by the appellation of INFLAMMATORY CHOLIC, and is much more painful and dangerous than that species of intestinal complaint known by the name of FLATULENT CHOLIC, or FRET. The inflammatory cholic, or GRIPES, proceeds from a painful obstruction in the intestines, occasioned by an accumulation of indurated excrement, which must be mollified, and removed, before EASE can be obtained. In cases of this kind, no time should be lost, the intestines being preternaturally distended beyond the original intention of Nature, the pain is most excruciating, the state of the animal dreadful; and, unless relief is very speedily procured, INFLAMMATION of the BOWELS immediately comes on, MORTIFICATION follows, and DEATH ensues.

GROGGY

—is a knowing term, peculiar to the lower order of stabularian and horse-dealing gentry, and implies a tenderness and defect in action, either from a CHEST or FOOT FOUNDER, or an injury sustained in the back sinews, as mentioned under the head Gorged. Horses of this description, although they come apparently crippled out of the stable, {349} yet, when the circulation is increased by action, and the stiffness gone off as the perspiration comes on, their exertion is incredible, and their endurance of fatigue beyond conception. These are the kind of horses by which the inferior kind of JOBBERS obtain a livelihood, in supplying the POST-WORK upon the roads, and the HACKNEY COACH-MASTERS of the Metropolis.

GROOM

—is the appellation by which a person is known who is a complete and perfect master of every part of stable discipline; if he is not so, it is a prostitution of the word to admit the term; and in any other point of view, he can rank in no other degree than a common stable-boy. The qualifications necessary to form A GROOM of superior excellence, are almost as numerous and distinguishing as those admitted to be requisite for the formation of a MINISTER of STATE: obedience, fidelity, patience, mildness, diligence, humanity, and honesty, are equally indispensible; without the whole of which, he may be entitled to the denomination of a strapper in a stable-yard; but will never prove worthy to be thought A GROOM.

GROUSE

;—the name of a HORSE who promised much celebrity on the TURF. He was bred by the Duke of Grafton, and was got by Highflyer out of Georgina, who was got by Matchem, and was own sister to Conductor. He was foaled in 1790; and at three years old beat Monkey, Silver, Tick, Æacus, Agamemnon, Black Puss, Edwin, Rally, and Mr. Vernon's filly by Florizel out of Eve, three miles over the Beacon; but soon after falling lame, he became a STALLION in the Duke's possession, and having already produced Chuckle and First Fruits, both good runners, he is in considerable estimation, and will no doubt contribute to TURF STOCK with increasing reputation.

GROUSE, or RED GAME

,—that species of game for the protection of which the Legislature has provided, is a native inhabitant of HILLS and MOUNTAINS, difficult of access, and much more common to the remote than the centrical parts of the kingdom. They are beautiful in the variegations of their plumage, but inferior to the PHEASANT (particularly the cock) in both feather and size. They are included with PHEASANTS and PARTRIDGES in every act for the PRESERVATION of GAME; but differ individually in respect to the time {357} limited for the commencement and termination of the shooting season.

GUN

.—A GUN is that well-known instrument of pleasure used in the destruction of GAME, for the privilege of carrying which, its devotees voluntarily contribute so largely to the exigencies of State, and the support of Government. Fashion, that great centre of fluctuation, has in this, as in almost every thing else, wrought a very considerable change. Guns formerly in use for this purpose, were principally constructed from three feet eight and ten inches, to five and even six feet in the length of the barrel only; which, by the effect of constantly increasing ingenuity and persevering invention, are now reduced to a standard varying but little below two feet nine, or above three feet and an inch; these having been improved to such a degree of perfection, as to bring down a bird from FORTY to SIXTY yards distance; and at no greater would any SPORTSMAN wish to put a gun to his shoulder. Guns with longer barrels are generally appropriated to the killing of water fowl, and are called FOWLING-PIECES.

HACK

.—Any horse appropriated to every kind of purpose, (and upon which no great estimation or value is placed,) it has been the custom for time immemorial to distinguish by the appellation of HACK. Custom, however, has permitted a slight deviation from a practice of long standing, and A HACK is now generally understood to imply the idea of a hired horse; that is, a horse the property of a HACKNEY-MAN, JOB or POSTMASTER, who lets out horses by the day, week, or month, and who is obliged to take out an annual licence for permission so to do, paying FIVE SHILLINGS for the same: doing which without A LICENCE, renders him liable to a penalty of TEN POUNDS.

HACKNEY

,—in the general acceptation of the word with the SPORTING WORLD, is a horse superior to all others upon the score of UTILITY; being rendered subservient to every office of exertion, speed, and perseverance, or, in other words, to all the drudgery and labour of his situation, from which his cotemporaries, the RACER, the HUNTER, and the CHARGER, by the imaginary superiority of their qualifications, and pampered appearance, are always exempt. It is the peculiar province of the HACKNEY to carry his master twelve or fifteen miles in an hour to covert, (where the HUNTER is in waiting,) and sometimes to bring back the GROOM with still greater expedition, whose engagements may probably have occasioned him to be much more in haste than his MASTER. It is in the department of the HACKNEY to encounter and overcome emergencies and difficulties of every description: his constitution should be excellent, and his spirit invincible; he must be enabled to go five-and-twenty or thirty miles at a stage, without drawing bit, and without the least respect to the depth of the roads, or the dreary state of the weather; and if he is not equal to any weight, in these trifling exertions, he will be held in no estimation as a HACKNEY of FASHION.

HACKNEY-MEN

.—Those so called are the proprietors of COACHES, CHAISES, and HORSES, for the accommodation of the public, and of whom may be obtained vehicles of such description for any length of time required. They are subject to a LICENCE ANNUALLY, and various duties upon the different carriages, all which are clearly explained in concise abstracts (called "TAX TABLES") from the Acts of Parliament upon this particular subject.

HAIR

,—with which the frame of the horse is so completely covered, and more familiarly termed COAT, is, in general, indicative of the good or ill state of the horse; not only in respect to health, but to his CONDITION, for whatever work he may be designed. If the subject is sleek in his coat, with a glossy shining surface, soft and pliable in the skin; not tight upon the ribs, as if firmly adhering to the side; no enlargements upon the lower joints of the legs, nor any profuse and faint perspiration upon moderate work, the BLOOD may be pronounced in a HEALTHY STATE, and the horse in fair and GOOD CONDITION.

HALTER

—is that well-known convenience by which a horse is fastened to the MANGER when confined in a STABLE. Halters are of two kinds; the one prepared of twisted hemp, the other made of LEATHER, having head-stall, throat-straps and buckles, nose-band, &c. and are called double-reined hunting-collars. These are the safest in every respect, and, although the most expensive at first, are proportionally durable, and consequently cheapest in the course of time. Hempen halters are sometimes injurious, in forming swellings, or lacerations, upon the upper part of the head, behind the ears, by the friction of the hard-twisted hemp upon a part naturally tender and easily susceptible. They are, however, now but very little used, except in the stables of inferior inns, and of indigent rustics.

HALTER-CAST

.—This is an accident to which horses are constantly liable, and it very frequently happens; but, in general, from the inadvertency of leaving the rein of the halter of too great a length on either one side or the other: for when the horse is lying down, and has occasion (from itching, or some other cause) to rub his neck or head with the hind foot, it is no uncommon thing to have it get entangled in the halter-rein; which encircling the cavity of the heel, renders it impossible for the animal to extricate himself, unless the halter breaks in his favor; and during these {365} struggles, the heel is sometimes so terribly excoriated, as to become not only a WOUND of much trouble, anxiety, and loss of labour, but often leaves a very vexatious blemish, never to be removed. It is, therefore, a truly necessary part of stable circumspection, to have an occasional eye to a circumstance in itself so seemingly insignificant, when it is recollected, that its omission may be productive of much mortification.

HALTING

—may be considered a limping, or slight impediment to FREE and EASY ACTION, implying some kind of perceptible defect or disquietude, not amounting to absolute LAMENESS. Whenever this irregularity in motion is first observed, and that the legs do not move in corresponding uniformity, or, in other words, as if they were not fellows, an accurate examination should be immediately made to ascertain the CAUSE, that it may be speedily relieved; upon a very fair presumption, that what might produce only a limping or halting in the first instance, might probably become a confirmed LAMENESS by a perseverance in use, without adverting to the proper means of alleviation upon the original discovery of something amiss.

HAM, HOUGH, or HOCK

,—is the joint in the center of the hind leg behind; and although so wonderfully united for STRENGTH and ACTION, is nevertheless the seat of serious injuries, as BLOOD {366} and BONE SPAVINS, CURBS, &c. the major part of which originate much more in improper treatment, by short turns, sudden jerks, or twists, upon the road, or in the stable, than by any accidents or fair mode of usage whatever.

HAMBLETONIAN

;—the name of A HORSE whose performances have ranked him in an equal degree of retrospective celebrity with Eclipse, Highflyer, Diomed, and the most famous runners of the past or present day. He was bred by Mr. Hutchinson, of Skipton, near York, and foaled in 1792; was got by King Fergus; dam by Highflyer; grand-dam by Matchem.—1795. May 5, when three years old, he won a stakes of fifteen guineas each, over Hambleton, (five subscribers,) beating Sober Robin, Tarquin, and another. At York, May 20th, he won a sweepstakes of twenty guineas each, four subscribers. He was then purchased, with all his engagements, by Sir C. Turner, Bart. in whose possession he won, on the 27th of August, at York, a sweepstakes of 100 guineas each, (six subscribers,) beating Benjamin, Minus, and Maximus. Two days after he won a sweepstakes of fifty guineas each, four subscribers. At Doncaster, the 22d of September, he won the St. Leger stakes of twenty-five guineas each, twelve subscribers. The next day he won the GOLD CUP of 100 guineas value, four miles, beating Governor, Capsicum, and Bradamant.

HAND

—is the term for a mode of measurement by which the height of A HORSE is ascertained. A HAND (so called originally from its breadth) is four inches; three hands is consequently one foot; and A HORSE OF FIFTEEN HANDS is exactly five feet high; and so above or below in proportion; as thirteen hands three inches; fourteen hands and a half; or fifteen hands three inches and a quarter; as the measure may be. This, at the entrance of horses for GIVE and take plates, is regulated to a most scrupulous nicety by means of a standard, so curiously constructed, as to ascertain the exact height to the eighth of an inch, where horses are MATCHED to carry WEIGHT for inches.

HANDICAP

—is a sporting term, applicable to either MATCH, PLATE, or SWEEPSTAKES, in the following way:

HANDING

—is sometimes used to express the HANDING of a COCK during his battle in the pit. It is, however, considered merely provincial, and peculiar only to some particular parts of the country; the hander of the cocks being now more generally known by the denomination of a SETTER-TO.—See Cockpit Royal.

HANDLING