Chapter II: Preface (2)

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_ _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.

Opinion and practice have very much varied in respect to the age most proper for backing a colt, or even taking him in hand. Not more than half a century past, colts were never touched (upon the score of _handling_) till rising _four_, backed and brought into very gentle use when rising _five_, and never seen in constant work till nearly or _full six years old_. But so wonderfully has fashionable refinement operated upon the human mind, and so constantly is it agitated by the fascinating effusions of novelty and innovation, that we now find colts handled at _two_, broke (and racing) at _three_, and in constant work at _four_, in every part of the kingdom; in consequence of which impatient and premature _improvement_ upon the judgment and practice of our forefathers, we now daily observe horses at five, six, and seven years old, more impaired in their powers, than they formerly were at double that age, to the evident production of strained sinews, swelled legs, splents, sprains, wind-galls, and the long list of ills so admirably calculated for the support of the new generation of veterinarians, who are daily emerging from obscurity, and for whom employment must necessarily be obtained.

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 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 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 part of the kingdom, or vary a shade or two in the colours of another.

HUNTING the badger is no more than an occasional sport with rustics of the lower order, and can only be enjoyed by moonlight; the badger, from his natural habits, being never to be found above ground by day. In this sport they are obliged to oppose _art_ to _cunning_, and obtain by stratagem what they cannot effect by strength. At a late hour in the evening, when the badger is naturally concluded to have left his _kennel_ or his _castle_, in search of prey, some of the party (as previously adjusted) proceed to place a sack _at length_ within the burrow, so constructed that the mouth of the sack directly corresponds with the mouth of the earth, and is secured in that position by means of a willow hoop, which, from its pliability, readily submits to the form required. This part of the business being completed, the parties withdrawn, and the _signal whistle_ given, their distant companions lay on the dogs, (either hounds, terriers, lurchers, or spaniels,) encouraging them through the neighbouring woods, coppices, and hedge rows, which the badgers abroad no sooner find, than being alarmed, and well knowing their inability to continue a state of warfare so much out of their own element, they instantly make to the earth for shelter, where, for want of an alternative, and oppressed with fear, they rush into certain destruction, by entering the sack, where being entangled, (by the rapidity with which they enter,) they are soon secured by those who are fixed near the spot for that purpose.

If he escapes by the ill construction or accidental falling of the sack, (which is sometimes the case,) and enters the earth with safety, _digging him out_ is not only a certain laborious attempt, but with a very _precarious_ termination; for the badger possessing instinctively much art, ingenuity, and perseverance, has generally formed his retreat with no small strength resulting from natural fortification; to render which the more probably tenable against the premeditated attacks of constant and implacable enemies, it is most frequently formed amongst the roots of some old pollard, in the banks of moors, or unfrequented ground, or underneath a hollow tree, from amidst the large and spreading roots of which the burrows run in such remote and ramified directions, that his assailants are compelled, by loss of time and labour, (after digging fifteen or twenty feet,) to relinquish the pursuit, and abandon the contest: corroborating the opinion of countrymen in general, that, in a light or sandy soil, badgers can make way as fast from their pursuers, as the latter erroneously _conceive_ they are gaining ground upon them, and to this perhaps it is owing that there are so many _drawn battles_ between the pursuers and the pursued.

BADGER BAITING is a different sport, and exceedingly prevalent in both town and country, particularly with the butchers, and lower orders in the environs of the metropolis, for whom a constant supply of badgers, from the woods of Essex, Kent, and Surry, were sure to be obtained. To so great a pitch of celebrity had this _sublime amusement_ attained in the neighbourhood of Tottenham Court and Islington, that the magistrates most laudably exerted themselves to put an end to a _pleasurable business_, which brought together an infinity of the most abandoned miscreants, with their _bull dogs_ and _terriers_, from every extremity of the town. To the dreadful and inhuman scene of baiting _bears_ and _badgers_ (with the most ferocious dogs) till nature was quite exhausted, succeeded _dog fights_, _boxing matches_, and every species of the most incredible infamy under sanction of the _knights_ of the _cleaver_; till, by the persevering efforts of the more humane inhabitants, and the spirited determination of magistracy, the practice seems totally abolished, and likely to be buried in a much-wished-for oblivion.

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 _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 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_.

BARBS were formerly in great request here; and neither trouble or expence was spared to obtain them, for the sole purpose of improving the speed of our own _breed_ for the TURF, where, upon the various events in RACING at NEWMARKET, and in the _north_, immense sums are frequently depending; and from the various _crosses_ in _blood_, the breeding _in and in_, with the different fancied _interlineations_ by different individuals, it is affirmed, by some of those best versed in racing pedigree, that there are at this time a very few (if any) thorough bred ENGLISH HORSES, but what have a cross of _foreign blood_ in their composition. To elucidate or justify this opinion, reference may be made to the well authenticated list of BARBS and ARABIANS, who have contributed, as _stallions_, more or less, to the increase of the most select and valuable studs in every part of the kingdom.

The HELMSLEY TURK (one of the first we can go back to) was the property of an old Duke of Buckingham, and afterwards of Mr. Place, (studmaster to Oliver Cromwell when Protector,) in whose possession he got _Bustler_, &c. Mr. Place had also a stallion, called PLACE'S WHITE TURK, who was the sire of _Wormwood_, _Commoner_, and other good horses.

The STRADLING or LISTER TURK was brought into England by the Duke of Berwick, from the siege of Buda, in the reign of James the Second. He got _Snake_, _Brisk_, _Piping Peg_, _Coneyskins_, &c.

The BYERLEY TURK was Captain Byerley's charger in Ireland in King William's wars, 1689, and was afterwards the sire of many good runners.

GREYHOUND was got in Barbary by a white Barb, out of Slugey, a natural Barb mare. After the _leap_, both sire and dam were purchased and brought to England by Mr. Marshall, where the sire became one of King William's stud, and was called the "White Barb Chillaby." Greyhound was the sire of _Othello_, _Whitefoot_, _Osmyn_, _Rake_, _Sampson_, _Goliah_, _Favorite_, _Desdemona_, and others.

D'ARCY WHITE TURK got old _Hautboy_, _Grey Royal_, _Cannon_, &c.

D'ARCY YELLOW TURK was the sire of _Spanker_, _Brimmer_, and the great great grand-dam of _Cartouch_.

CURWEN'S BAY BARB was a present from Muly Ishmael, Emperor of Morocco, to Lewis the Fourteenth, and was brought to England by Mr. Curwen, who procured from Count Byram and Count Thoulouse (natural sons of the French King) the two horses afterwards called the _Curwen Bay Barb_ and _Thoulouse Barb_, both which proved excellent stallions, getting a great number of winners, and transmitting their blood through the sisters of _Mixbury_ to _Partner_, _Little Scar_, _Soreheels_, and the dam of _Crab_; as well as to _Bagpiper_, _Blacklegs_, Panton's _Molly_, and the dam of _Cinnamon_.

DARLEY'S ARABIAN was brought over by a brother of Mr. Darley in Yorkshire, who being a commercial agent abroad, exerted his interest to procure the horse. He was sire of the famous horse _Childers_, (who was said to have ran a _mile_ in a _minute_,) _Dædalus_, _Dart_, _Skipjack_, _Aleppo_, and other good horses.

SIR J. WILLIAMS'S TURK got Mr. Honeywood's _two True Blues_, out of the only thorough-bred mare he was ever known to cover; though he got some middling racers out of common mares, whose pedigrees were not known.

The BELGRADE TURK was taken at the siege of Belgrade, and, after passing through the hands of General Merci, the Prince de Craon, and the Prince of Lorrain, became the property of Sir Marmaduke Wyvill, in whose possession he died about 1740.

CROFT'S BAY BARB was got by _Chillaby_ out of the Moonah Barb Mare.

The GODOLPHIN ARABIAN was the property of Lord Godolphin, and thought so little of as a stallion, and so little likely to get racers, that he was for some years _teazer_ to _Hobgoblin_; but, upon his refusing to cover _Roxana_, the Arabian had the _leap_, which produced _Lath_, the first horse he ever got. To Lath succeeded _Cade_, _Regulus_, _Blank_, _Babraham_, _Bajazet_, &c. &c. and there can be no doubt, from the success of the progeny of each, but that he contributed more to the value and speed of horses for the turf, than any other foreign stallion ever brought into this kingdom.

The CULLEN ARABIAN was sire of _Camillus_, _Sour Face_, the _dam_ of _Regulator_, &c. &c.

The COOMBE ARABIAN, called also the _Pigot Arabian_, was sire of _Methodist_, the _dam_ of _Cross_, &c.

The COMPTON BARB, or _Sedley Arabian_, was sire of _Coquette_, _Greyling_, &c.

The ARCOT ARABIAN has been covering a few years in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, but has not produced any thing of note. This may probably happen from a want of interest in procuring _thorough-bred mares_, without which a stallion for racing blood can acquire no celebrity.

KING CHARLES the Second sent over his master of the horse to procure a number of foreign horses and mares for breeding; and the mares brought over by him, as well as many of their produce, have since been called _Royal Mares_. DODSWORTH, though foaled in England, was a natural Barb; his dam was imported _in foal_ during the time of Charles the Second, and was sold for forty guineas at twenty years old, (after the King's death,) then in foal (by the Helmsley Turk) of _Vixen_, afterwards dam of the old Child Mare.

However largely this description of horses may have contributed to the improvement of blood in this country, and however grand and majestic they may appear in competition with our more settled, steady, and well-broke studs; yet, when the _uniformity_ of _parts_ which constitute _the whole_ come to be judiciously examined, and every _point_ of _perfection_ precisely ascertained, no doubt can or need be entertained, but the best bred horses in Britain, as _Highflyer_, _Escape_, _Rockingham_, _Hambletonian_, _Diamond_, and many others, must stand firmly entitled to the palm of priority. The most accurate must have observed, that the major part of the horses brought to this country as Barbs and Arabians, being submitted to public inspection, are very much inferior in height to our own, few reaching, and _none exceeding_, fifteen hands: they have mostly a curvilinear hollowness of the back, a narrowness of the chest, (indicative of _speed_, but the reverse of _strength_,) and a palpable deficiency in the arm or _fore thigh_, seemingly disproportioned to their own weight. Their apparent powers are entirely appropriate to the purposes of _speed_, and not to the common services of the people of this country; being, in general, bad, uneven walkers; and once exerted to _a trot_, their legs are thrown about in the clambering manner of the German cavalry, much more adapted to the gratification of pompous parade, than the neatness or utility of expeditious 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 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, 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 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.

In fox-hunting, when the fox is supposed to have gone to earth, the fact can only be ascertained in many cases by the excellence of the terrier attending the pack, who has in general strength and speed sufficient to keep him from being far behind. Upon entering the earth, discovery is soon made of the certainty of his retreat, by the terrier's "_laying well at him_," provided the fox has not _turned_ in the earth: if he has so done, and they are face to face, they are both _baying_, or keeping each other _at bay_, till the controversy ends in _digging out_ the fox, and letting in the hounds for their _share_ of the entertainment, with the additional acquisition of _blood_ for the advantage of the pack.

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. 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 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.

In proportion to the increasing spirit of the times, _slow hunting_ declined, and beagles of this kind got in disrepute. The numerous crosses in the breed of both beagles and hounds, according to the wishes and inclinations of those who keep them, have so diversified the variety, that a volume might be produced, in a description of the different sorts and sizes adapted to the soil and surface where they hunt; from the old _heavy, deep tongued, dew-lapped southern hound_ of MANCHESTER, (where the huntsman with his long pole goes on foot,) to the highest crossed harriers of the present day, who kill the stoutest hares in _thirty_ and _forty_ minutes with a speed not much inferior to coursing. BEAGLES, when the term is now used, implies hounds who _hunt hares only_, in contra-distinction to those who hunt either STAG or FOX. Harriers have been produced from the crosses between the beagle and the fox hound, for the advantage of speed; but _harriers_ are not, in sporting acceptation, to be considered synonymous with _beagles_, to whom they are very superior in size. MR. DANIEL, in a recent publication, called "_Rural Sports_," has given an account of "a cry of beagles, ten or eleven couple, which were always carried to and from the field in a large pair of panniers, slung across a horse: small as they were, they would keep a hare at all her shifts to escape them, and often worry her to death. The catastrophe (says he) attending this pack of hounds is laughable, and perhaps is a larceny _unique_ in its attempt. A small barn was their allotted kennel, the door of which was one night broke open, and every hound with the panniers stolen; nor could the most diligent search discover the least trace of the robbers or their booty."

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, 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 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.

BETTING is the act of laying a wager, or making a deposit of money, by two persons of contrary opinions, for one to become the _winner_, upon the decision of some public or popular event; and that so fashionable a mode of terminating disputes may meet with but little difficulty or obstruction, _bets are made_ with as much deliberation, and discharged by the SPORTING WORLD with as much integrity, as the most important transactions of the commercial part of society in the first city of the universe. Betting has of late years been reduced to _a system_, by which there are now many _professors_ in existence, who were originally of the _very lowest order_; but, by an indefatigable and persevering _industry_ at Newmarket, the cockpit, and the gaming table, have acquired princely possessions, by the unexpected honour of being admitted to princely association. Where two opponents deposit _each_ an _equal_ sum (whether five pounds or five hundred) upon any event whatever, it is then termed _an even bet_. An offer of _six_ to _four_, implies the odds in direct ratio of six pounds to four, twelve to eight, sixty to forty; or in that proportion to any amount. Betting _two_ to _one_, is laying ten pounds to five, twenty to ten, and so forth; one depositing exactly _double_ the amount of his adversary's _stake_; three, four and five to one being regulated in the same way. The latter are all termed _laying the odds_, which vary according to the predominant opinions of the best judges upon the _probable_ termination of the event; one rule being invariable, the person betting _the odds_ (or, in other words, the _larger_ sum against the _smaller_) has always the privilege of taking _his choice_ in preference to his adversary, against which no appeal can ever be made with a decision in its favor.

Any person proposing _a bet_ to another during the running of a horse, the fighting of a cock, or any other transaction, the party applied to, saying "done," and the proposer _replying_ "done" also, it then becomes a confirmed _bet_, and cannot in sporting etiquette and honour _be off_, or revoked, but by mutual consent. No bet above _ten pounds_ can be sued for and recovered in our courts of law; the payment of all losings above that sum must depend entirely upon the _sporting integrity_ of the parties concerned.

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 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, 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, 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.

"By this statute it is enacted, that persons, hunting armed and disguised, and killing or stealing deer, or robbing warrens, or stealing fish out of any river, &c. or any person unlawfully hunting in His Majesty's forests; or breaking down the head of any fish-pond; or killing of cattle; or cutting down trees; or setting fire to house, barn, or wood; or shooting at any person; or sending letters, either anonymous, or signed with a fictitious name, demanding money, &c. or rescuing such offenders, are guilty of felony without benefit of clergy." This is commonly called the Waltham Black Act, and was made perpetual by 31 George II. c. 42.

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.

As members have no great power in exerting themselves with much success individually, _the firm_ (if a phalanx of the most infamous combination can be termed so) are adequate to almost every desperate undertaking, from _pricking in the belt_, _hustling in the hat_, or _slipping a card_, to the _casually_ meeting a _friend_ upon Hounslow Heath. They are sole proprietors of the different gaming tables, public and private, as well in the metropolis, as the _hazard_ and E O tables at all the races of eminence in the kingdom. They are invariably present at every fashionable receptacle _for sport_: the tennis-court, the billiard-room, the cockpit, have all to boast a majority in _quest of prey_; and even the commonest coffee-house is a spot where _modest merit_, in the form of a lounging emissary, frequently obtrudes, in the anxious hope of picking up some opulent juvenile, that he may afterwards enjoy the pleasure of introducing him in the most friendly and liberal way to another member of the fraternity, as a very proper object, or _pidgeon_, well worth plucking for the benefit of the family.

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 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 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.

The _consistency_ and _propriety_ of BLEEDING upon slight or moderate occasions, has always been matter of cavil and capricious controversy with those whose cynical rigidity, and restless spirit, ever prompts them to take even the _wrong side_ of any argument, (however absurd and ridiculous,) rather than want a cause _to carp_ at; but with those possessing the power of scientific disquisition, and practical professional knowledge, such fallacious and ill-founded reasoning must fall to the ground. Its utility, upon the attack of _almost every disease_ to which the animal is subject, is now so generally admitted, that it stands in need of no additional corroboration from the more refined rays of constantly increasing improvement.

The quantity proper to be taken away at one time, in any case, may be from _three_ to _five_ pints; the latter only in such disorders as require plentiful _depletion_: in all cases of inflammation (particularly the lungs) frequent repetitions are to be justified, provided they follow not too fast upon each other; the lives of many horses have been preserved (particularly in those _influenzas_ of late years called "the distemper") by _four_ or _five_ plentiful bleedings in so many days; and, _vice versa_, as great a number lost by a want of the same means. As blood is generated, and the unloaded vessels replenished, by the constant supply of _aliment_ in _health_, or _nutriment_ in disease, so little, or, in fact, no permanent injury can be sustained by leaning to the _safe side_, and taking away even too much, provided it be at different times, particularly when it is remembered, that the life of a valuable horse is very frequently lost by a too great pusillanimity and forbearance in the operation.

BLEMISHES—are so called which constitute disfiguration and eyesore, without impediment to _sight_ or _action_; it is therefore readily conceived, a 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.

If a horse is warranted "_perfectly sound_, without _blemish_, free from _vice_, steady to _ride_, and quiet in _harness_," it is a full and general warranty speaking for itself; leaving very little for the intentional purchaser to do (in respect to _inspection_) if he has previously _tried_ and approved the _paces_ of the horse. But where a warranty _seemingly guarded_, or _cautiously partial_, is offered, a proper degree of circumspection will be necessary to prevent a chance of early repentance; a prevention of litigation will prove less expensive than the _cure_ of a _lawsuit_.

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.

The eyes of some horses are periodically affected, even for months and years, before they terminate in _total blindness_: to this species of ocular defect, the illiterate and less enlightened of former times gave the appellation of "_moon-blind_," under the weak and ridiculous idea, that such changes were produced by the gradational stages of the moon; an opinion too trifling to render animadversion necessary, it being one of the very few remaining traits of superstition which will speedily be totally done away. Many horses lose their eyes from extreme exertion, as by _over racing_; in proof of which, a very long list of instances might be adduced: the same effect has been produced upon STALLIONS in being permitted to _cover_ mares not only in an unlimited degree in respect to number, but stimulated so to do by the use of powerful and prejudicial provocatives: in both these cases the loss of sight is occasioned by a total subversion of the nervous system, reducing it to a fixed or partial debility of those particular parts, from which they never recover.

Horses are frequently found to inherit constitutional defects from SIRE or DAM; and none are, perhaps, to be considered more justly hereditary than _defects_ of the _eyes_; and to render such fact the more extraordinary, it generally happens to have lain dormant for the first three or four years, and never to display itself to any visible inconvenience till a colt is broke, and brought into work. The eyes of a horse inheriting this taint by hereditary transmission, are much less prominent than a natural, well-formed and good eye; they have a kind of indented furrow in the lid above the orb, and a wrinkled contraction in the part immediately over that, constituting a kind of "vinegar aspect," better conceived than described: this kind of eye should be carefully avoided in purchase; for however they may vary by changes in work, and a diversity of seasons, they, _nine_ times out of _ten_, terminate in blindness; a circumstance fairly to be presumed, no professional man living can prevent.

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 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.