a person who does not know how work ought to be done, the buyer may get possession of a brute that he will not find it very easy to dis possess himself of under considerable loss. Doing work as it ought to be done, and only doing it somehow, just makes the difference, in two horses of similar age, soundness, and appearance, of being worth a hundred and forty, or only forty. It is true there are many persons who are content if their animal does his business anyhow, provided he does it; and if they are satisfied with this, and have bought such a treasure at his proper value, he is as good value to them as the best stepper that ever looked through a bridle; but as men, who are not judges of horses as animals, are generally equally astray in their ideas of how they should do their business, the chances are they give as much for a brute as for a clever nag. This will never" keep the money together;" for though a man may fancy his brute to be as good and worth as much as such a horse as the Marquis of Anglesey would ride or drive, if he attempts to sell him he will find the whole of his mistake, and only onefourth of his money, as the consequence of purchasing for himself. It therefore becomes equally necessary for such a man to consult a judge as to how a horse does his work that has been at it, as it does to take the opinion of such a man in purchasing one to put to work that he has not been at.

The next thing to be looked at is how the horse has been treated, for to bring one from good or careful management to its reverse, is certain loss. If a man who has a farm of poor land were to purchase cattle from the rich feed of Lincolnshire, he must lose by every head he buys, to a dead certainty. I did not mean an equivoque by the expression, but let it stand, for probably some of them, at least, would die; but if a lot of Scots or Kerries are put on the same land, they will not only keep the money together, but materially increase it.

So it is with horses: almost all of them will improve on additional care; but every one will lose in condition, and consequently value, by a want of that care to which they have been accustomed. If a man wants a horse to stand heat and cold, wet and dry, three or four sweats a day, with permission to clean himself against a post, nothing but a country butcher's hack would stand it. If, not wanting to use a horse thus unfairly, he wanted a quick buggy horse that could step over his seven miles into town in about thirty minutes, go back in the evening, and do this, we will say, five times a week, and keep in condition, he must get one that has been used to it, or he must bring him to it by slow degrees. The best I ever had I bought of a Whitechapel carcass-butcher, merely from seeing him coming into town, certainly at the rate of sixteen miles an hour, with a heavy man and two calves in the cart; but I gave eighty-five guineas for him, and the good butcher showed me two other nags, nearly as clever, and in as fine condition as hunters. He prided himself much on this; in fact, they could not be otherwise, for, partly by choice and partly from the nature of his business, his horses had the three great promoters of condition-good care, plenty of corn, and fast work.

Now, if any man bought one of these horses, and gave him less work and less corn, he might do very well, and look well, but he would not be in the condition our friend the butcher had them. With the same feeding and less work they would get fat, foul, good for little,

and perhaps either vicious or sluggish; with less corn and the same work they would become thin, dispirited, and debilitated; with the same corn and work, and bad care, they would get colds, swelled legs, inflamed lungs, farcy-in short, out of condition in every way. His horses were treated in the precise way to keep them in the highest state of health and condition, and whoever had bought them, the more or less he departed from the same way, the more or less would they lose tip-top condition that is, such condition as is in all cases necessary to horses called on to exhibit both speed and lasting quality. This is not, of course, necessary to all horses; but, whatever the horse's business may be, to enable him to do that with ease to himself and owner, he should be in the best possible condition for the work he has to perform in fact, his condition, and consequent capability, should be such as to qualify him for greater exertion than he is daily called upon to perform, if we wish him to do his ordinary work pleasantly.

I have said that every horse will suffer from coming from a master by whom he had been treated well, to one by whom he would not be thus properly managed or cared for: this is indisputable. I have also added that most horses will improve by coming to a better home than the one they may have left; but the inexperienced purchaser must bear in mind that better treatment does not always mean increased feeding or diminished work; that must, of course, depend on the quantities the animal had had of each; if the feeding had not been in adequate proportion to the exertion, the horse would improve either by increased feed or lessened exertion; but a man might get into a serious predicament by taking one from high feeding and strong work, and only riding or driving him three or four miles a day at the rate of six miles per hour, though he might, to a certain degree, diminish the very high feed he had been accustomed to.

There are numberless horses going in coaches, omnibuses, and occasionally one in a cab let out for hire, that do their work well, quietly, and are in good condition; but give them to a man who would only require what would hardly be exercise to them, he would find them take a very extraordinary mode of showing their gratitude for the indulgence; and, vice versa, give a lady or gentleman's fat pet to a Newmarket jockey, merely to ride between the heats, if he had several races to ride during the day, the boys would kill him by merely bringing the clothes from the starting to the ending post of each race.

Such reasons as I have stated induce me strenuously to recommend persons not understanding the purchasing or management of horses, and still wishing to avoid inconvenience and loss, under all circumstances to avoid making purchases on their own judgment, or rather the want of it, for so sure as they do, they will suffer in person or pocket; for, supposing they purchase, or intend to do so, of a perfectly honest man, he is not to judge as to what is likely to suit he will not sell them a lame or vicious horse; but it is not to be expected, if he has an unpromising young one, or a seasoned horse that is a brute, that he is to chronicle the imperfections of his own property, or to be philanthropic enough to keep such an animal, lest another should be inconvenienced by purchasing him. If, on the other hand, such a

person as I have mentioned goes to a rogue, of course he is done every way, both as to price and qualifications.

We will suppose a much stronger case, and one where there is the least probability of deception being used on one hand, or error to be committed on the other, which is, where a man not conversant with horse affairs goes to purchase of another of similar character (two respectable tradesmen, we will say): the one having no further use for his horse, wishes to sell; the other wanting a horse, wishes to buy; the animal is known by both parties to have done his work quietly and honestly for the last twelve months, and never to have been during that time (in the common phrase) “sick or sorry.' If the fresh purchaser wants such a horse for a different kind of purpose, or intends to treat him differently, be it with more or less indulgence, what the horse has been seen to do with his last master will be no guarantee of his doing equally well with his new one. But we will suppose the new one does intend in every particular to treat and use him as he has been used and treated before; surely a person might say, "In such a case I might venture to buy without better advice than my own." Certainly you might, and possibly-I will say probably-the horse will suit you; and if so, you would do little harm in buying; but, should you want to sell, very probably you would, even under these favourable auspices, lose half your money; for this reason though the horse may have done his work honestly enough, he may be but a brute after all. His former purchaser may have bought him of a dealer who behaved as well as could be asked of him in selling a sound, quiet animal; but, depend on it, he got from the kind of customer to whom he sold, sixty for what was only worth thirty. The late owner tells you, true enough, "I am no horse-jockey" (upon which, I daresay, he much piques himself); "I do not want to make money by my horse; and though I ran the risk of how he would turn out, and have proved him a good horse" (mem. quære), "I only want what I gave for him." Nothing can be fairer than all this; still, though your friend is "no horse-jockey," you will find, if you want to sell, as he would if he had wanted to sell (unless he had found you, or some other knowing as little), that you are done clean out of thirty; the only difference being, the dealer knew he was selling at sixty what was only worth thirty, your friend sells for sixty what he believes to be worth that sum, though only worth half of it: you are both done, and your pocket derives no benefit from your friend not being "a horsejockey." Still, purchasing under such circumstances is perhaps the best and safest mode by which such persons can go to work, if they are determined to purchase for themselves.

(To be continued.)

HIGHLAND SPORTS, AND SPORTING QUARTERS.

BY LINTON,

(Concluded.)

Majestic was thy appearance "Meal Four Vournie," for such is the name of the lofty mountain which stands pre-eminent over its more humble neighbours to the north of the Castle of Glenmoriston. Grand, indeed, were thy towering outlines, though half veiled by the morning's mist, as we walked forth early after a good night's rest, and caressed the noble and beautiful deer-hound, who, stretched on the lawn, enjoyed the first rays of the rising sun. On the wild and magnificent scenery which surrounded us on all sides, however, we must no longer dwell, but proceed to tell a tale of hound and hart.

Once more, however, the sound of the pibroch called the castle inmates together; and having refused the morning's dram, and made a furious attack on the centre of a cold grouse pie, which succumbed to our onslaught, and lighted our cigars, the laird threw his plaid around him, and kindly proposed a visit to the kennel, being well aware of the great admiration in which we held the noble race of deerhounds, some of the purest of whose breed have, from time immemorial, been possessed by the ancestors of Glenmoriston. On our arrival at the kennel, the doors being thrown open, three fine rough deer-hounds, and a very handsome smooth hound, of the same breed, and of equal size and strength, rushed out on the grassy space before us; indeed, had we not moved on one side, we should, unquestionably, have measured our length on the ground. In addition to thesewe speak only of deer-hounds--was our friend of the morning, who joined in their gambols and delight of freedom; he, however, on all occasions being allowed to range at large, the faithful friend and companion of his master, by whom he is greatly valued, and the pet and favourite of the children; for, notwithstanding their great courage and ferocity when roused to action, the temper of these dogs is most gentle. This gallant animal has been the subduer, as we were then informed, of no less than eighteen stags, which, single-handed, he has either brought to bay or killed, and was the sire of two of those released from the kennel, as also of our own dog Bran, mentioned in a former part of these pages; who, like his parent, is one of the finest specimens of his race that can possibly be conceived; indeed, without the slightest intention of exalting his character because we have the satisfaction of owning him, but rather in gratitude to the donor by whom he was presented to us as a puppy, we should fear not to produce him against any dog of the same breed now living, as a remarkably fine specimen of his race. "I am not," said Mr. Grant, "the original founder of the noble breed of animals in this glen; indeed, a long minority on my part caused a serious degeneration in the sporting superiority which here

maintained its pre-eminence in the time of my predecessors. In fact, there now remain to me but few relics of their prowess, either in the sports of the field or valour in arms." A long gun, however, we had the pleasure of handling, still remains as an heirloom in the family. It is of great antiquity and curiosity, and certainly two hundred years old. It is well known in the locality by the name of the "Alandick," and is of Dutch manufacture. The barrel is a very fine one, at least six feet and a half in length, and curved at the breech. It holds a prominent place in the arm-rack, and is still an excellent ball gun, and many a red-deer has fallen to its unerring truth. There is also in the same rack a sixbarrelled gun, or short rifle, of curious construction and great antiquity, with which its owner has also been known to bring a hart to bay-such are the heirlooms of the Highlands.

But let us return to the dogs. The first which entered the kennels of Glenmoriston, subsequent to his majority or accession to the property, was sent to him by Captain McDonald, of Moray, in the Braes of Lochaber. This gentleman, since dead, was a landholder and farmer of the old Highland class, and a first-rate sportsman. Having heard of a pure and beautiful bitch of the same breed, whose character stood high for her great courage and lasting power in the chase of the deer, then the property of the late Thomas Mackenzie, of Applecross, Glenmoriston suggested that either the one or the other should endeavour to keep up this precious breed of dogs, the pure animal becoming daily more scarce in the Highlands. Mr. Mackenzie, however, having a far greater taste for literature than sporting, declined the task, and the lady forthwith became domiciled at Invermoriston, from which period, now about thirty years ago, the breed has remained uncontaminated in those parts, at least, of which we had the pleasure of seeing the few remaining specimens. We have since been informed that Glenmoriston has relinquished his dogs, as also the care of their augmentation-in which, at one period, he took great interest-to Mr. E. Ellis, of Glengarrick, at least such is the name of his shooting quarters; and as this gentleman is a first rate sportsman, has the means, and, like ourselves, is an enthusiast with regard to these rough deer-hounds, we may fain hope he will restore them to their original size and splendour. The trouble and difficulty of rearing them and keeping them pure in breed is, however, immense. Cross them but once, and a smooth, piled puppy will be introduced among the litter, as has been the case with Mr. Grant's dogs; and ever afterwards one or two of the puppies will be smooth haired. We must, however, state that the fact of their smoothness does not always detract from their fleetness or courage. The puppies are extremely delicate, and require constant care and attention; but the casualties of youth and distemper once over, they become extremely hardy; as an instance, we will merely observe that the splendid dog which had welcomed us in the early morning, on our first proceeding from the castle, has been known to lie out night after night on the lawn, when the ground has been knee-deep with snow, and this with shelter at hand, had he desired to take advantage of it. If properly trained, their courage and endurance of fatigue can be surpassed by no domesticated animal; but, on the contrary, if mismanaged, and led to a task beyond their strength ere they are full grown and well broken, should they fail or get severely