ANISEEDS
—are the produce of a plant cultivated much more in France, Spain, and Germany, than in any part of England. Those from Spain are preferred; they have a fragrant smell, a warm pleasant taste, with some degree of sweetness. When reduced to powder, they form a principal and efficacious ingredient in the preparation of the pectoral cordial balls for horses, where their virtues are fully admitted. They yield, by expression, an aromatic essential oil, containing all the medical property of the seeds, and is mostly imported to us from other parts ready prepared. Being an article of some expence, it is very much adulterated with sperma-cæti, and other articles, for the profitable purposes of retail, by the secundum artem abilities of the parties concerned. Those who expect any efficacious effects from the aniseed powder, should grind (or see ground) the seeds themselves; for the article sold in the shops under that name, is neither more or less, than the aniseed cakes reduced to powder in the common stock mill of the druggist, from whence the essential oil has been previously extracted.
ANTIMONY
—is, in its original state, a mineral, extracted and separated from different ores by a peculiar process of eliquation; the various medical preparations from which, in the present state of hourly increasing improvement, absolutely excite both surprise and admiration. This article, now known and proved of such general utility, was alternately received into, and rejected from, a respectable rank in medicine, by both the ancients and moderns, till the more judicious and persevering speculatists established its estimation upon a basis too firm ever to be again shaken by the attack of whatever new opinions may be introduced for its degradation.
The crude antimony, when reduced to a fine and impalpable powder, is in many disorders full as efficacious as its more subtle and elaborate preparations; this observation appertaining to its effects upon the human frame, to which it is administered in all forms, by the most learned and eminent physicians in every part of the enlightened world. In respect to its corresponding effect upon one of our most useful animals, the HORSE, experience has proved it to be a safe and certain medicine to obtund acrimony, promote the secretions, open the pores, refine the coat, and finally ensure condition; hence it stands the principal ingredient in the well known advertised "Alterative Powders" of the Author.
ANTLERS
,—used under different significations to explain the various branches of what is called the head (but divested of technical terms, the horns) of a deer. Except with the huntsmen of stag hounds, the keepers of parks, and out keepers of forests and chaces, the infinity of old terms and distinctions are become nearly obsolete; and ANTLERS amongst sportsmen, as well as sporting rhymesters, are now conceived to imply the whole head (alias the horns) of the deer.
APERIENTS
—are medicines which mildly soften the contents of the intestines, and gently promote moderate evacuation, without producing the strong and repeated effects of physic, given with an intent to purge.
APERTURE
;—a term in farriery, applied to the orifice or opening of a tumour or abscess, whether made by Nature, or by perforation with the instrument of the operator: in either case the principal consideration must be, to have it sufficiently large for the transpiration of the offending matter for which the effort was made; if in that respect it is deficient, relief must be obtained from the hand of the VETERINARIAN.
APOPLEXY
,—in horses, a paralytic affection of the brain, from too great or sudden flux of blood to the part, too powerful exertions of strength in drawing substances over heavy, or some pre-disposing tendency to inflammation.
APPUI
—is a term used in equestrian education; a perfect knowledge of which, Mr. Astley is of opinion, "can only be acquired in the MANEGE, by great practice, under judicious, experienced and able professors."
APPETITE
,—if good, in either man or beast, ought to be, and in most cases is, a clear criterion and proof of health. However, instances are not wanting, where a rule so seemingly just is sometimes subject to exceptions. The quantity of good and healthy food taken into the frame, is by no means an infallible proof of strength, or of what work the subject is, or ought to be, equal to: some horses are the greatest slugs in nature, though always feeding; while others, who undergo thrice their labour, do not consume even a moderate share of what is placed before them. This is probably one of the latent operations of Nature, upon which it should seem human penetration is not permitted to define, at least to a degree of certainty, in respect to both origin and effect. Scientific aid, and industrious investigation, may do much; but when done, the enquiry will rest upon no better grounds than undefined hypothesis, and unconfirmed conjecture.
Here, then, appears most forcibly, the inutility of going into an enquiry where no certainty of information can be obtained: the labyrinth of perplexity is better unentered, than to explore its most difficult passages in the dark, without even a chance of extrication. We have, indeed, been informed by a publication of late years, that "Appetite is a painful sensation of the stomach, always accompanied with a desire to eat." It might, perhaps, have been less "caviar to the multitude," and much nearer the truth, if appetite had been defined, a pleasing sensation, and hunger a painful one; particularly if (for the sake of a paradox or an iricism) "accompanied with nothing to eat." Waiving, therefore, for the foregoing reasons of uncertainty, any intent of going into a farther disquisition of why the appetite is good or bad, it becomes necessary to proceed to the facts which are known, and to point out the proper remedies to insure relief.
When the appetite of a horse is seemingly never satisfied; when he displays an immoderate and impatient desire for food at all times; when, in failure of repeated supplies of hay and corn, he is constantly consuming his litter, (although it is none of the cleanest;) such a horse is generally, and with strict justice, denominated a coarse and foul feeder; the result of which frequently is, that he soon becomes as foul in his blood, his coat, and condition, as he has previously proved himself in his inclination. The ready road to relief in a case of this kind, is to unload the frame of its accumulated rubbish by a course of physic; the rack rein and the muzzle are then such easy alternatives, that those who do not chuse, or are too indolent, to adopt them, must sit down easy under the defect.
Some there are who attribute the voracious dispositions, and strong digestive powers, of such horses to their being affected with worms. Such reasoning may, with more propriety, be attributed to the fertile imagination of those advocates, than to any effect (of the kind mentioned) in the worms themselves. That (worms being there) disquieting or painful sensations, from some remote or internal cause, may occasion a horse to pull out and disperse his hay, to pick, scrape, and disorder his litter, in proof of disorder or discontent, may readily be conceived; but that absolute pain from the corroding misery of living insects, preying upon the very vitals of an animal, shall give him an increased appetite to eat, is a doctrine that cannot be so readily believed.
Horses of a contrary description, who labour occasionally under a loss of appetite, is no such matter of ambiguity as what has been just described; but may with certainty be ascribed to its proper cause, by minutely attending to such signs, and predominant symptoms, as present themselves to the eye, and to the touch of the diligent enquirer. A loss of appetite in horses whose constitutions are generally good, and who have not been remarked for refusing their corn, or being off their feed, sufficiently indicate some tendency to either slight and temporary indisposition, or impending disease; as cold, cough, febrile heat from the fatigue of a long journey on the road, or exertion in the field; intestinal disquietude, from flatulent affection, or pain in the kidnies; as well as a stricture upon the neck of the bladder, proceeding from a preternatural retention of urine, in having travelled too far "without drawing bit." This is the exulting practice of too many unthinking masters, and indiscreet servants; it, however, holds forth no proof of the goodness of the head or the heart in either one or the other. This defect, proceeding from whatever cause, cannot be too soon properly attended to: early and attentive investigation should be made as the first and most necessary step to the acquisition of relief. Admitting it to have originated in any of those causes already described, there is very little doubt to be entertained, but a moderate bleeding, a cordial ball, a mash of ground malt and bran, equal parts, with warm soft water, and a little nursing, if expeditiously proceeded upon, will soon set all to rights again.
Not so with those whose defect is constitutional, proceeding from an inexplicable degree of irritability, so generally and palpably evident in both attitude and action; in the stable, or out, they never appear perfectly at ease; the eye, the ear, seeming alarmed with every sound, as if in perpetual search of new causes to keep up the unceasing spirit of discontent and eternal disquietude. Upon the road in company, or in the field with hounds, they invariably and impatiently court competition, making the most violent exertions to prove their great, passionate, and ill-tempered desire for superiority; so that horses of this description, after a journey of some length, or a chase of severe duration, are not only off their appetites for two or three days, but hardly fit to be seen again for a week. They are mostly light, and what is termed fluey in the carcase; carry no flesh, with or without work; and for that reason, do no credit in appearance to their master. Yet, strange as it may appear to those unacquainted with the fact, horses or mares of this restless, unsettled disposition, are almost so invariably good and persevering in nature, that they will continue to exert themselves, till, becoming totally exhausted, they must sink under fatigue, rather than permit themselves to be restrained; a palpable contrast in spirit to those voracious, gummy-legged gluttons, who, after an insatiate series of gormandizing and rest, absolutely tire (or "knock up") in the second stage, or first twenty miles, of a journey.
This defect, (or more properly deficiency in appetite and disinclination of food,) whether proceeding from the fiery volatility of temper impatient of restraint, or a peculiar laxity of the parts necessary to strong digestion, is so clearly inherent, so truly constitutional, that a well-founded expectation of permanent relief, or total eradication, is not to be formed upon any change that can be made in food, or improvement in attention. Such horses, however, if their paces are good, and they are desirable in other respects, should not be too hastily disposed of; instances having been very frequent, where horses of such irritable habit, and fretful disposition, when young, have, when accustomed to the same stable, gentle usage, and to one rider only, become as settled feeders, good goers, round carcased and firm fleshed horses as any in the kingdom. Some inducement to feed after the fatigues (or frettings) just recited, may be attempted by the means before described; few occasions will occur where the malt mashes will be refused; the novel fragrancy attracts attention, and when once taken, its invigorating property soon appears. In cases where the stomach continues weak, the carcase thin, and appetite not restored, an occasional use of the pectoral cordial balls, once or even twice a day, is the proper substitute for aliment, and will seldom or ever fail to produce the desired effect.
AQUATIC
,—appertaining to water. Fish are an aquatic production. Aquatic herbs take root in the soil beneath, and vegetate as well below as upon the surface of the water. An aquatic excursion is a party of pleasure upon the water.
ARABIC GUM
,—is a most useful article to dissolve with water or gruel in the sickness of horses. Nitre should never be given without half its quantity of Gum Arabic.
ARSENIC
,—is a most certain and destructive poison, mentioned here only to demonstrate its utility in clearing premises of rats, which it will infallibly do, if made use of in the following manner. Take (in the season when they are to be obtained) a dozen large apples; let them be pared, and the cores extracted; then chop them exceedingly fine, till they are almost a paste; to which add half an ounce of arsenic, reduced to powder, and two ounces of coarse sugar; mix well, and let this be distributed in their usual haunts, remembering to let earthen pans be set with plenty of water within their reach; and the sudden thirst they are seized with, after eating the smallest quantity of the composition, is so violent, that they drink till unable to move from the spot; and if the preparation is made over night, and the rats are plenty, they will be found in the morning swelled to the utmost extent, and lying dead in different parts, as if they had fallen victims to a fashionable dropsy.
ARM
—of a horse, is so called (though it is properly the fore-thigh) from the elbow immediately under the chest, downwards to the junction at the knee: this should be uniformly strong and muscular, being wide at top, and narrowing proportionally to the bottom: if it is not so, but mostly of a size, it is an evident proof of weakness.
ART VETERINARY
—is the present improved state of FARRIERY, as taught at a newly established institution, called the Veterinary College at Camden Town, in the parish of Saint Pancras; where the pupils attend LECTURES upon anatomy, physiology, and medicine, under a PROFESSOR of the first eminence, as well as the practical part of the business at the forge and in farriery, till, being properly qualified, they pass the necessary examination before a committee of surgeons, when they receive their diploma, and embark for themselves as VETERINARY SURGEONS in the service of the public; or possess the privilege of an immediate appointment in his Majesty's service, under the patronage of his Royal Highness the Commander in Chief, at a stipend which does honor to the institution, as will be found more fully explained under its proper head, Veterinary College.
ASCARIDES
—are a species of worms, to which horses are frequently subject, from two to three inches long: they are not larger in circumference than a common knitting needle, have a flat head, and in some degree not unlike the millepedes, at least in respect to their number of legs. They are in general voided with the dung, where they may be seen twirling and twisting about with wonderful rapidity, not unlike a grig, or small eel, when thrown out of his own element upon the grass. Horses persecuted with these painful and troublesome companions, are generally relaxed in the intestines, and throw off their dung in a loose state, affording, by that circumstance alone, sufficient proof how much they irritate internally, as well as why horses affected with worms, are not only low in flesh, but rough in coat, and almost every way out of condition.
ASTHMATIC
.—Horses are considered asthmatic, or thick-winded, who have acquired a difficulty of respiration, and a short husky cough, from blood originally dense and sizey having been permitted to become proportionally viscid, from a want of evacuants and attenuants in time to have prevented the obstructions which lay the foundation of this troublesome defect. The viscidity of the blood constituting obstructions in the finer vessels, produce tubercles in the lungs, which, rendering their action partial and imperfect, occasions the difficulty of breathing, and repetition of cough, so constantly observed during the increased circulation of the blood, when the horse is brought into use. Frequent bleedings, and a course of the Author's Pectoral Detergent Balls, are the best means of alleviation and cure.
ASTRINGENTS
—is rather a medical than either a general or sporting term, and implies any article in food or medicine, possessing the property of restraining a too great flux of excrement after physic, or a too lax state of body, (denominated looseness,) proceeding from a previous fulness, or from intestinal acrimony, where the discharges have been a mere effort of Nature to relieve herself from the load, and not in consequence of any purgative whatever. In such flaccidity of the intestines, proceeding from whatever cause, a cordial ball occasionally, small quantities of liquid laudanum in gruel, and an ounce of gum arabic dissolved, and given night and morning in the water, will soon restore them to their proper state.
ATTACHMENTS
—Court of, a ceremony or court peculiar to the laws of a forest, and necessary to be known only by those who reside therein. The officers of this court do no more than receive the attachments of the foresters, and enrol them in the VERDERERS' rolls, that they may be ready for the court of swainmote when held. This court of attachments having no power to determine upon cases of offence or trespass beyond the value of fourpence, all above that sum must appear in the verderers' rolls, and be sent by them to the court of swainmote, there to be tried according to the forest laws, which are replete with peculiar privileges, immunities, and what are termed royalties, appertaining to the Crown itself.
ATTAINT
—has been used, by members of the old school in farriery, for blows, bruises, cuts, and wounds, sustained in any one leg by injuries from the other. As it is, however, nearly obsolete, and may probably never be heard again, farther exposition becomes unnecessary.
ATTRACTION
—is positively, in some respects, the best property (if it can be so termed) a horse can possibly possess, at least so far as it is admitted to exceed every other qualification in its effect upon the mind of the owner during the time he is in possession; as well as no inconsiderable gratification of pecuniary expectation when the horse comes to be sold. The great advantage arising from attraction in a horse is, that, however vexatious his defects in respect to temper and action may be, he will never hang upon hand, or the owner be long in want of a customer, if external figure and good colour do but afford attraction in any tolerable degree. There are always those in pursuit of horses for purchase, who more know what constitutes figure at first sight, than what constitutes good points after a week's examination. Two good ends (as the dealers term them) well set on, and both up, go a great way in the fashionable work of attraction; without one or both of which, a horse can never become a commanding figure, either before or behind; and, strange as it may be thought by the young or inexperienced, there are numerous instances of horses bearing, in their general appearance, a kind of attracting uniformity, that, upon critical investigation, are found not to have any distinguishing point of excellence about them. Those, however, who have the prudence to bear in memory the effect of attraction, and to secure it when they buy, will never be at much loss when they sell: it will be also by no means inapplicable to have it equally "in the mind's eye," that many horses without attraction are too dear at nothing.
ATTIRE
—of a deer. See Antlers.
AVIARY
—a receptacle for singing birds of different denominations, more adapted to the pleasures of the ladies, than any systematic pursuit or enquiry of the sportsman.
B.
BABBLER
—is a hound upon whose tongue no firm reliance is to be made, either in drag, upon trail, or the recovery of a fault during the chase; so strictly true is the well known adage, that "a liar is not to be believed although he speaks the truth."
BABRAHAM
—was one of the best racers of his time; he was bred by Lord Godolphin; foaled in 1740; was got by the Goldophin Arabian out of the large Hartley mare, got by Mr. Hartley's blind horse; her dam Flying Wig, by Williams's Woodstock Arabian; grand-dam by the St. Victor Barb, out of a daughter of Whynot, son of the Fenwick Barb. He became a STALLION of much celebrity, having been the sire of Sir Isaac Lowther's Babraham, Mr. Leedes's Young Babraham, Babraham Blank, Jack of Newbury, Traplin, Aimwell, Louisa, Molly Long Legs, Harry Long Legs, Fop, Lovely, Americus, and many other excellent runners.
BACK
—of a horse, the very part upon which the centrical point of beauty principally depends. If he is long in the back, narrow across the loins, flat in the ribs, and light in the carcase, (however well he may be otherways furnished with good 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.