but his wealth and of that of which a man is most proud, he will usually make the greatest display. The keep of two or three horses would fall very short of the expense of often giving such dinners; and such are much oftener given by persons in trade than by people in higher life. Reverting to the diminished number of horses now kept for private use, and which number will most certainly still further decrease, the number of riding men decreasing in the same ratio, I am not anticipating this as likely to be a blow to field sports, for such are supported chiefly by the rich, or those comparatively so: and if the noble, who keeps his foxhounds, finds he collects a field of persons of a certain standing in life, he will not give them up because he may seldom see men of small means with his hounds. But I look at the thing in a national point of view: man will have some pursuit and some amusement if he has not such as tend to render him robust and bold, he will take to those that have an opposite tendency. Athletic pursuits have ever been characteristic of Englishmen. That Englishmen have some reason to be proud of the rank they hold among other nations will, I doubt not, be allowed by the world. How far doing away with their general characteristic in the rising generation may act detrimentally, or the reverse, I am not prepared to say: but this I hold as quite certain the race of English of 1900 will be as widely different from those of a century ago, as if they were denizens of a different country. The idea may suggest itself as to how far the decreased demand for horses for private use may affect the breeder or the sort bred. The first is a difficult point to venture an opinion upon; and a far more difficult one to decide on with anything like certainty. To do this, we must first ascertain whether the actual numerical quantum of horses in use in different ways has on the whole decreased or not, and how far, supposing we find them as numerous as formerly, this would prove that as many are bred as formerly: for now we import largely; and I believe it is found, as I said years ago, that the French, Norman, or Belgic horses are by no means to be thought so lightly of as they once were; but, on the contrary, are both useful and enduring for such work as they are calculated to perform. There is one class of breeders who, I should say, will find a sad diminution in the demand for the sort of horse they breed, namely, horses intended for hunters, or even a good sort of riding-horse and this I should fear will, in a most woeful degree, diminish our general show of fine horses throughout the kingdom; for if the love of hunting, the habit of riding on horseback, and consequently the desire to own good sorts of horses, is done away with in the man of small or moderate income, a comparatively very small number will be found sufficient to keep up the studs of the wealthy; for probably where one man of ten thousand a year kept twelve or fourteen horses for different purposes, a hundred men of a few hundreds kept a couple; and where there is one man who, like Lord Plymouth, at one time had nearly thirty hunters at Melton, five hundred men kept a couple in other places-provincial snobs we allow but such snobs helped to keep up the revenue, and keep out our enemies. Whether patronizing shilling musical promenades will do the same thing, I am not versed enough in such matters to determine. Let it not be supposed I am insensible to sweet sounds: quite the reverse: like a Jack-of-all-trades, I played, or attempted to play three different instruments, consequently was master of neither. No man remembers with more pleasure the delightful evenings I have spent in Dublin with my old and intimate friend, Sir John Stevenson, and his friends; but if I there listened delighted at Moore's Melodies one day-or rather, evening-I had probably taken a few Galway walls the day preceding. To return to the kind of horses likely to be bred now with a fair chance of their selling, I fear the sort will be a very mediocre lot, namely, Brougham horses, omnibus horses, and under-duty ponies: the latter animals, as they say of mackerel, have been more abundant lately than ever was before known. No doubt such is the case: and so they will not only continue, but increase, so long as they are exempt from any duty. That the poor man should be allowed a conveyance for himself and family, exempt from the duty the rich pay for their equipage, is a just and benevolent exemption in his favour. This he was allowed by his taxed cart, provided his name and occupation were written on it. It would be kind to allow him to use four wheels, if more convenient, free also under the same proviso. If a man or his family are ashamed of their name or calling, they are at liberty to walk, or go by an omnibus. I should not object to my name on a good well-made taxed-cart, with a well-made horse in it: why should the man be who supplies me with soap and candles? The man of large fortune would and should pay duty a hundred guineas may be given for a pair of choice ponies; seventy or eighty or more for a phacton; eighteen or twenty for a double set of harness-making something like two hundred for an equipage similar to one used by the sovereign: and this, forsooth, is to be free of duty because the wheels are within a certain diameter, and the ponies only twelve hands, or about £2 10s. clears them if they are thirteen. If it is in contemplation to encourage a breed of ponies instead of horses, this exemption will fully carry out the plan. The making the size of the animal or the wheel the exemption defeats the benevolence of the intention, which no doubt was to favour the poorer part of the community; for not hundreds, but thousands of these immature equipages are in daily use by those who could pay duty for a dozen such if they wanted them: these most certainly place the marchioness and the market-woman often side by side, if that is desirable ; and in some proof that they give the latter the idea of aping the former, I will mention a circumstance that occurred last week : I had occasion to purchase a new horse-brush, and entering a shop a besilked and beringletted lady came forward, informing me, as a prelude to our dealing, that one of her shopmen was ill, the other just stepped out, and Mr. was in the country-affording me this important information as to her family affairs no doubt to account for her condescending to attend to her business. She was really a handsome woman, so I could do no less than assure her that I felt myself fortunate that the state of her household at that moment procured the advantage of being served by her. A day or two afterwards, walking up the Bayswater-road, I saw a mazarine blue pony-phaeton, with morocco lounging-cushions to match, coming towards me: in it reclining, or I should rather say, lying on her back, was a lady. She condescended to patronize me by an inclination of her head. It was my lady of the brush-and-bristle establishment. I took off my hat, and held it aloof, as if royalty was passing; but I did more-in theatric style I brought it to my left breast with a low bend of the body. A nondescript sort of old gentleman passing, addressed me with"Beg pardon, sir! may I ask who that is?" "That, sir," said I, "is the Duchess of Berchtolsgaden, with her nephew, Prince of the Mauritius and Duke of Albenga. My inquirer respectfully moved his hat on thanking me for my information, no doubt appreciating the condescension of one known to persons of such distinction. Now I think it probable that " John Bristle, Brushmaker," in white letters on black ground, or vice versa, an inch in height, on the phaeton, might have been a check to what was no doubt thought to be elegantly reclining, and reclining elegantly, in an open carriage. In making ponies free, it might have been thought that many a man might be able to purchase a pony, though without the means of buying a horse. No doubt a better looking and a better going pony can be got for £10 or £12, than a horse of fifteen hands, possessing equal advantages. But a useful, plain, blemished horse is to be had as cheap as a pony, without such drawbacks. Nor do I think I am far astray in saying, that taking the collective number of ponies now in daily use among persons in good circumstances, they would be found to equal in amount, as to value, an equal number of the general horses working omnibuses, and very greatly exceed those in daily use in cabs for hire, even Hansom's included. The substituting the name on the carriage for the diameter of the wheels would have this good effect: it would permit those who need it to use a more useful-sized horse for their business in harness: for why a £15 horse should pay duty more than a £15 pony, I do not exactly see. The man who can give a large price for a fine horse, would not use him in a vehicle proclaiming itself duty free. It would encourage the breed of horses instead of ponies; for the horse when unblemished would be used by the wealthier, the same horse blemished by the poorer man it might check in some cases the pride of a certain class of persons, no doubt-no great harm in that; and it would prevent thousands in good circumstances availing themselves of an advantage only intended for those who need it. Their doing so is about on a par with a miser of five hundred a-year claiming a share of the soup charitably given to the poor in Leicester Square. H. H. ON THE WYE. ENGRAVED BY JAS. WESTLEY, FROM A SKETCH BY G. ARMfield. The lesson here before him spread, With aching gaze, that seeks in vain |