on returning him because his tail quiver'd after a gallop, and some one had told him it was indicative of plurisy.

Tattersall, as I said, is the man for saving one all this vexation and bother; for the loss of temper is often as serious a consideration as the sovereign on which mighty sum these twopenny deals frequently turn. “All done at twenty! going for twenty!-bang-and he's yours' sir." Some people may think Tat too quick, and that he does not give people time enough; but it's quite a mistake. How would he ever get through the catalogue if he dwelt, and pondered, and coaxed upon each lot? Besides, where "quick's" the word, the buyer is on the alert, and a single glance shows a practised eye who's "done" and who's not-that is, who is done bidding, and who wants to be done with the horse.

There must be something singularly seducing in the air of Tattersall's yard. Men, who in Piccadilly require the strictest warranty against everything they can think of, buy before Tattersall's rostrum with all the confidence of perfect security. They seem to think that nothing but sound horses go there; or that Tat is a sort of Prince Hoenloe among horses, curing all cripples by a private miracle.

George Robins is considered the prince of auctioneers in the general line, and certainly his advertisements, announcements, and paragraphs, are the perfection of the art. It is a common observation, that a place generally looks much better in a picture than in reality; and I think a person who bought a place on the faith of one of Robins's advertisements would be very much of the same way of thinking. He it is that can make the barren heath fertile, and clothe the naked country with ideal beauties. When he has anything to work upon, he is great: it is, however, in the descriptive departmentcertainly the most important—that Mr. Robins excels. In the rostrum he is greatly inferior to Tattersall. The first time I ever saw George Robins, I did not know it was him, and I wondered what gaudy, drowsy old gentleman they had got in the box. Passing through St. James's Square one hot summer's day, I saw by the usual "flag of distress" a dirty carpet hanging out of a drawing-room window, and the frowsy finery of the elegant peoplish standing about, that open house-keeping was going on, and I turned in, in that listless sort of way that one does things in London, almost as if one could'nt help it. It proved to be the mansion of a done-up nobleman; and having surveyed the effects below, I at length commenced the ascent of the staircase, a fine easy gradual scale, whose spacious landings, oft crowded with the élite of London life, were now occupied by coatless heavy-knotted porters and departing furniture. As I reached the top, I heard a sort of monotonous drawl, as if the person could not be at the trouble of opening his mouth, and entering the spacious richly gilt drawing-room, I found a bald-headed elderly gentleman sitting at his ease in a cane-bottomed chair, placed on a mahogany table with a desk before him, on which stood a tumbler of "something" and water. He was a man of many colours, brown coat, velvet collar, buff waistcoat, black cravat with red stripes, and a ribbon to his eye glass; drab trowsers and boots, if I recollect right, completed

his costume. What struck me, however, was the continued unvarying drawl that proceeded from him, and the way he saw the bidders without apparently moving his eyes. Many elegant Jews and Jewasters were lolling about like dukes and duchesses on the richly gilt satin sofas and couches, to his right and his left; while an avenue was kept up the room to the end of the long table on which he sat, and where the goods were paraded. As quick as one lot was disposed of, another was brought, which being put in at any body's price, the auctioneer's duty seemed to consist in drawling out figures to correspond with the nods; and had it not been that he occasionally varied the monotony by blowing up a porter, I should have expected him either to drawl himself asleep, or run down like a musical snuffbox. As it was, he would every now and then break off from "sixteen, eighteen, twenty, twenty-two, twenty-three," to "that's right porter! better take it outside the house altogether" (as they did not bring the thing near enough); or, "that's right! put a cloth over it at once, if you want to hide it!" "twenty-three, twentyfour, twenty-five; six, seven, eight," &c.

"That's a character," said I to myself, descending the staircase. When I got outside, I looked at the great "posters," and found it was George Robins. But for the intense heat, I would have gone up again, and regarded him with very different eyes.

"Well that's a capital thought upon hunting,"" I fancy I hear some of your readers exclaim as they get to the end of the paragraphIt's rather wide of the mark perhaps; but take Robins back to Tattersall, and fancy Tat selling a stud of hunters, and we have it all right.

The great expense of hunting consists in what Nimrod used to call, "summering the hunter." If a man could buy in the autumn and sell in the spring, he might get his diversion for little or nothing. I don't think a gentleman can ever make money by horse-dealing. I don't mean to say that they ought never to sell a horse to advantage; but, as a system, I don't think a gentleman can make money by dealing; in other words, be both a dealer and a gentleman. I don't know a more disagreeable style of man than one that is always wanting to "sell you a horse," a man who is always "wanting to buy one," and never does, alone excepted.

An idle man, with his eyes open and a couple of fifties in his pocket, may pick up a couple of very good horses towards the end of autumn, or the beginning of winter, in London. It is wonderful how people are hoodwinked in horse-dealing as well as in other things. A long string of finely clothed horses with sounding names and pedigree, the property of a "nobleman going abroad," or of a gentleman "deceased," are sure to sell; while the same horses scattered through the stables, the property of Jack Smith and Tom Jones, would hardly be looked at. Those are the horses for a man to speculate upon. The dealers are shy of them, save at what they used to call "machine price;" in the palmy days of coaching, about forty pounds, now perhaps five and twenty, or thirty. These are almost always aged horses-that is to say, past mark of mouth, no small recommendation in my eyes-who think that the age of a hunter depends on his legs,

and not on his teeth. The only competitors above machine price, are the hack hunter letters; but they, like the " machiners," are very cautious boys. I often think if horses could speak, what amusing stories they could tell; how the scouted run down horse of yesterday becomes the subject of panegyric on the morrow, and that too from the self-same lips.

Tilbury, and some of the top sawyers in the letting line, have some good horses no doubt, but these are all bespoke beforehand for the season. I have often had severe and conflicting arguments with myself as to the advantages and economy of the hiring system, but I think I have about come to the conclusion that it is best for birds of passage, men that have everything to buy and rent, who would have to pay severely for summering as well as for wintering. To the farmer or landowner-indeed, to any man whose arrangements enable him to buy things all the year round at fair market price, it cannot be cheap. Fifty guineas a season, travelling expenses, and keeping the horse, cannot be so cheap as buying at fifty and selling in the spring for what they will fetch, or summering on a reasonable scale. Many men, I know, will turn up their noses at the idea of getting a hunter for fifty pounds; but there is always twenty per cent. between "will you sell?" and "will you buy?" and I intend my purchase to be made of a man wanting to sell, not of a gentleman willing to sell if he can get his price.

The season just closed must have been a very advantageous one to the letters of hunters; they have had their horses well taken care of, and may now send them out again as cab horses, or summer hacks: some of them look solitary without the vehicle at their tails. As summer hack letting is getting more in vogue, and many men prefer the "three and sixpence a-side" to the expense and risk of railroading it, a hint to the proprietors of such horses on the subject may not now be misplaced. Nothing bespeaks the hack horse so much as the saddle and bridle. Some of you let out very good horses, very neat animals, small heads, large tails, and so on; but you invariably proclaim what they are by your tackle. Faded silk fronts, weather bleached reins, ivory rings, martingales, and all sorts of ship rigging about the neck, with the coarsest, commonest, fattest, most spongy looking saddles that ever were seen. These destroy everything, spoil the appearance of the horse, and destroy the effect of the rider. The better got up" he is, the worse for him, for the contrast is the greater. With such rigging as you now give them, hacks are as easily detected as the hired chandelier, or white waiscoated greengrocer, at a tea party. A great deal might be said upon saddles. There is more character perhaps in saddles and in top-boots than in any two things going; but to do the thing properly a man should have the article before him, which I have not, so shall "conclude for the present," as servants say in their letters, by signing myself

0.

ON THE GAME LAWS, SHOOTING, &c.

BY CECIL.

(Continued.)

The numbers of valuable dogs which fall victims to the distemper, urge the necessity of resorting to every precaution that can possibly be thought of. One fact is clearly established, that none can be reared with any probability of their coming to perfection, unless they have full liberty to run about; whelps that are confined in close kennels are neither healthy nor symmetrical, nor is there any course so likely to produce distemper in its most inveterate form as that of confinement. At the age of three months, puppies should have gentle doses of physic administered to them, and a similar course persevered in at intervals of two months, or thereabouts; it is a plan which will most effectually cause them to thrive, and when they are attacked by the distemper, it will be in a much slighter degree. Various medicines have their advocates. Some persons prefer jalap, with the occasional addition of calomel; which last drug I believe is a most important remedy for worms, and as an alterative when the system. appears deranged. It acts powerfully on the liver, which, in cases of distemper, is always sympathetically affected. Dogs are particularly liable to the jaundice or yellows, especially those which have been seriously attacked by distemper. I must, however, observe that, not being capable of undertaking to write on the medical treatment of dogs, I cannot go beyond the recommendation of such remedies as are calculated to prevent acute disorders. As a purgative, jalap is sometimes uncertain, and is often violent and drastic in its operation. Calomel should never be given but in small doses, not exceeding two or three grains, and I prefer giving it by itself in the morning, and working it off with aloes administered six or eight hours afterwards; this is, I am convinced, a much more effective method than that of combining it with purgative medicines. Aloes may be given in doses from fifteen grains to half a drachm, made into a bolus with ten grains of ginger and a scruple of hard soap. A safe and effectual aperient is also composed of the following ingredients: castor oil, three parts; syrup of buckthorn, two parts; and syrup of poppies, one part; these to be mixed together, and one or two table-spoonfuls to be given as a dose. Castor oil and syrup of buckthorn are aperients well calculated for the canine species, whose intestines are easily susceptible of the irritating properties of many drugs. Calomel is a dangerous medicine in large quantities; a man will take as much at one dose without experiencing inconvenience as would destroy two large dogs, and yet a dog will take twice as much aloes as would

prove to be highly dangerous, if not fatal, to a strong constitutioned man; such are the peculiarities in the bowels of men and dogs.

Nothing adds more to the beautiful appearance of dogs than a clean and wholesome coat; it contributes much also to their condition. For this purpose they should be washed about once in six or eight weeks, in warm water; and the following composition-mercurial ointment (the strongest) half a pound, soft soap two pounds-to be very thoroughly mixed till the greasy particles of the mercurial ointment are entirely subdued by the soap. A small portion of this, just sufficient to create a lather, is to be rubbed all over the dog, who at the time should be placed in a large tub containing warm water, with which he must be thoroughly washed: a portion of the lather may be suffered to remain in the animal's coat, if he be foul either from vermin or any irritation of the skin; if not, it is to be rinsed out. It will effectually exterminate fleas and ticks, and it will cure the mange; independent of which, when rinsed out, it leaves the coat in a more bright, healthy, and pleasing condition than any other kind of dressing I have ever seen adopted. For ladies' dogs, or pets of any kind, which are frequently subjected to ablutions, it is far preferable to common soap, and, if it were not for the trouble, would be exceedingly efficacious in kennels of foxhounds. Sulphur may be combined with the above compound in the same proportion as the mercurial ointment, when the mange makes its appearance. This addition will expedite the cures. Care is requisite in using mercurial preparations, lest salivation be produced; but the very great benefits which are derived from it when judiciously attended to are sufficient inducements to actuate any owner of valuable dogs to pay that regard to the application which is necessary to prevent injurious consequences. The compound used for mange at the Veterinary College is as follows: oil of turpentine, Pyroligneus oil of tar, whale, seal, or rape oil; equal parts to be mixed together, so as to form a liniment, and to be applied every second or third day for two or three times, and then washed off with soft soap and water. The horridly dirty, unctuous, stinking condition in which a dog is enveloped during the operation of this remedy, argues much against its use, as compared with the mercurial application, which has the effect of rendering the animal particularly clean in his coat; and with due attention, I have never found any ill consequences from the absorption of the mercury, although I have used it and recommended its use to my friends very extensively.

An opinion prevails that dogs pass off from their tongues that portion of superfluous fluid under the denomination of perspiration, which, in most other animals, flows through the pores of the skin. I must confess myself more than sceptical on this subject. Whenever a dog has undergone severe exertion, it is true, he will protrude his tongue from his mouth, which appears to be caused by the organs of respiration in their increased action; but I never could detect any perspirable fluid escaping from that organ: a small portion of saliva, no doubt, flows, and I am inclined to believe that is the true term by which the lingual discharge in dogs ought to be described. One fact is sufficiently conclusive, that dogs do not perspire through any pores