PACE
—is an expression to signify the motion, or progressive action, of a horse, as well as one of the human species. When speaking of a man's pace, it is usual to say, he walks, he runs, or he goes a good pace; which becomes applicable to either, meaning, that he is an expeditious WALKER, a fleet RUNNER, or perhaps both. A horse has a great variety of PACES, as a walk, trot, amble, canter, gallop, rating-gallop, and at speed; some of which many horses have in great perfection, and are exceedingly deficient in others; as for instance, a horse shall be a most excellent TROTTER, who happens to be a shuffling, execrable WALKER; he shall be a gay, airy, light figure in a CANTER, and wonderfully deceptive in speed. Good GALLOPERS are very frequently bad TROTTERS; and perfection is very difficult to obtain.
Some years after the death of that famous horse Eclipse, which happened on the 27th of February, 1789, Mr. Charles Vial De Sainbel, Professor of the Veterinary College, published a work, to prove the unprecedented speed, and astonishing powers, of Eclipse, proceeded from the peculiarity of his construction. The work was embellished with ANATOMICAL, GEOMETRICAL, and MECHANICAL drawings, to establish and confirm an opinion, that the motion of the horse became proportionally accelerated, by the precise proportions of the subject geometrically described. The work itself was elaborate, sublime, and so remotely abstruse, that its contents were very superior to common comprehension; and as it communicated but trifling information, (and that founded upon conjecture,) it established no satisfactory data to engage public attention. Whatever was advanced upon the supposed effects of the geometrical proportions of Eclipse, would but ill apply to the action of the species in general; it being a fact well ascertained by those who are the most practically concerned, and personally interested, that ill-shaped horses of equal blood frequently exceed those of the fairest proportions; and that horses inferior in SIZE shall prove superior in SPEED.
PAD
—is a common rustic term for a GALLOWAY, or small horse.
PADDOCK
,—in earlier times, signified a PADDOCK enclosed with a wall or paling of an immense height, a mile in length, and a quarter of a mile broad, in which DEER were coursed with GREYHOUNDS, in the same manner as HARES are coursed at present, but with numerous variations in respect to the coursing rules now in use, These paddocks, from their great extent, were seldom seen, but in the ROYAL PARKS, or upon the demesnes of the most opulent and distinguished subjects. The sport itself has been a long time discontinued, and is most probably buried in oblivion; the word paddock applying, in the present time, only to a small enclosure of pasture, having a pale to protect it; or to a small tract of land, surrounding, or appertaining to, a rural mansion, where a few brace of FALLOW deer may be kept, but not of magnitude sufficient to acquire the appellation of a PARK.
PALATE
.—The entire roof of the horse's mouth, amongst FARRIERS and SMITHS, is generally distinguished by the simple unmeaning appellation of PALATE; the ridges crossing which are called the BARS: these, when they become too luxuriant and fleshy just behind the nippers, (the upper front teeth,) are then said to constitute a defect called the LAMPAS, which are reduced by repeated scarifications with a lancet, or extirpated by means of a red-hot iron, called the ACTUAL CAUTERY. (See Lampas.) In all cases of emergency, particularly upon inflammatory disorders, coming suddenly on in the night, when circumstances may render BLEEDING in the neck a matter of inconvenience, the operation may be instantly and expeditiously performed by lancet, bistoury, fleam, or even a common pen-knife, by passing either three or four times moderately across the bars, when the blood will be observed to flow most plentifully, and by being swallowed, is admitted by most of those who have attended to EFFECTS, to have been almost invariably attended with immediate advantage, particularly in the cholic, or a suppression of urine.
PALSY
—is a disorder, or rather a species of disorder, so nearly allied to the various degrees of staggers, apoplexy, or deprivation of sense, that the best Veterinary writers do not seem to have laid down any fixed rule, or unerring diagnostic, by which the discriminating shades, or predominant traits, of each are to be precisely ascertained. As the causes may be different of either, so the disorder may be more or less violent, according to the gradational excess of the cause. One attack of the species may arise from a too great and sensible flux of the blood to the brain, producing a severe and rapid inflammation: this, of course, might be introduced by extra exertions of continued speed, or in drawing loads of unreasonable weight; as well as from cruel and inhuman blows about the head; and from the two latter it is, that most of these disquietudes certainly proceed. Where the whole frame is affected, it is then natural to conclude the BRAIN is more particularly the SEAT of DISEASE, and that the whole system is from thence universally affected; but where the attack is partial, affecting only one limb and extremity, or any single part of the frame, it has then more the appearance of spasmodic affection, acting solely upon the muscles of the precise spot so far as they extend; and in the latter case, lay more readily open to a chance of relief by topical application, than where the entire frame and system is affected.
In the former, plentiful bleeding, followed by immediate hot fomentations, prepared from the various aromatic well-known garden herbs; succeeded by almost incessant friction with two able men, whose persevering efforts should alternately relieve each other; rubbing in occasionally stimulative embrocations of camphorated spirits, incorporated with essential oils; will frequently relieve in a very short space of time. In cases where the whole frame is affected, more reliance must be placed upon internal administrations; because the same means applicable to a single limb, or extremity, cannot be brought into perfect use with the whole. Bleeding, and persevering FRICTION, are as strictly proper in one as in the other; but the extreme irritability of the nervous system should be acted upon and reduced with all possible and proper expedition: camphire, assafœtida, and gum ammoniacum, a drachm each, blended with small proportions of opium, and formed into small balls, with a sufficient quantity of mithridate, or London philonium, should be introduced every three or four hours, till there is a termination of the case one way or the other. The ancient and well-founded axiom, that "dangerous diseases require desperate remedies," cannot be more completely verified than in the different species of this; where no hope or expectation of cure can be derived, but from indefatigable exertion, and the most patient perseverance.
PARK
,—in its plain construction, is an extensive tract of ground, or country, enclosed with WALL or PALING, well variegated with WOOD and WATER, for the support of cattle, and preservation of VENISON and GAME. It becomes a park by the privilege of prescription, or by the King's grant. There are many parks in possession of the Crown, (as well as of opulent individuals,) of which Windsor Great Park is the largest in the kingdom. It is upon record, that the Park of Woodstock was the first in England, formed and enclosed about the year 1124, and bounded by a stone wall seven miles in circumference. The example was followed by Henry Earl of Warwick; after which park-making became a common practice in different parts of the country.
PARTNER
.—There were five famous horses of this name in succession, from Old Partner, in 1718, to Little Partner, in 1745. The first was called Croft's; the second, Moore's; the third, Grisewood's; the fourth, Bright's; and the last, Pearson's. Old Partner was got by Jigg, out of a sister to Mixbury; he was a most excellent runner, and produced an astonishing progeny of winners; from whom his blood is ramified through most of the studs in the kingdom. He was sire of Sedbury, Tartar, Cato, Traveller, Badger, Grisewood's Partner, Little John, Larkin's Looby, Duke of Bolton's Little John, Barforth, the Witherington Mare, Vane's Little Partner, Parker's Lady Thigh, Grisewood's Lady Thigh, Lodge's Roan Mare, &c. &c.
PARTRIDGES
—are those well known timid, harmless, inoffensive branches of the feathered creation, the beautiful variegations of whose plumage, and the nutritive property of whose flesh, have entitled them to the distinguished appellation of GAME, and the honour of parliamentary protection. They begin to pair off from the fragmental remains of COVIES, about the last week in February, and through the month of March; make their nests upon the ground, in hedges, and the banks of hedge-rows principally; though they are sometimes found in fields of CLOVER, but very rarely in standing CORN. The hen usually deposits from fifteen to twenty eggs, and produces mostly a bird from every egg she lays. They hatch about the second or third week in June. The young in the aggregate are called COVIES, and they are known to run almost as soon as they are hatched. Although they are sometimes reduced by VERMIN, or unexpected torrents of rain, yet from SIX to EIGHT BRACE are generally brought up to fly with the old ones. They are included in every Act of Parliament for the preservation of the game; and the penalty for killing a partridge by any unqualified person, is FIVE POUNDS: if such unqualified person kills a partridge, without having taken out an ANNUAL CERTIFICATE from the Clerk of the Peace for the county in which he resides, (or where such partridge may have been killed,) he is then liable to a farther penalty of twenty pounds; making a forfeiture of TWENTY-FIVE POUNDS in the whole.
If a person qualified to kill game in right of his property, (that is, by inheritance of a FREEHOLD landed estate of the clear yearly value of ONE HUNDRED POUNDS per annum, or a LEASEHOLD of ONE HUNDRED and FIFTY in his own, or his WIFE'S right,) does so at any one time without having taken out an annual certificate as aforesaid, and for which the sum of THREE GUINEAS has been previously paid, he is then liable to a penalty of twenty-pounds. And any person qualified, or unqualified, killing any PARTRIDGE between the first of February and the first of September, in any year, is liable to an additional penalty of FIVE POUNDS to those already recited for each offence. It is natural to conceive, that the various modes of punishment annexed to a transgression of what are termed the GAME-LAWS, would have operated to a perfect and complete prohibition: that it may now have nearly reached the zenith of that effect by day, is admitted; but that a total suppression of the NOCTURNAL depredators can ever be accomplished, the annual destruction, and almost public sale, of game, leave very little reason to expect.
Partridges, in their natural and infant state, accompany the hen in search of food, obey the cluck of the mother, and are protected by the clutch of her wings, in the same manner as chicken, and other domestic fowl. The hen is so instinctively attached to her young, that she will encounter every difficulty, and face death in every form, to insure their safety: although stupidly timid, and rendered almost insensible by her own fears, upon other occasions, yet great sagacity is observable in her endeavours to preserve her offspring. When they are very young, and unable to save themselves by flight; and in all cases of danger, when approached by that fatal enemy the dog; the hen will rise, and lead him on, by short flights, or rather hoverings, of twenty and thirty yards, but just above the ground, till, having induced him to follow a sufficient distance from the seat of all her fears, she takes a long, and more circuitous route at her next flight; where, after finding she has completely baffled her pursuer, another effort brings her to her young in safety. When separated by danger (whether the approach of the dog and gun in the sporting season, or by other means) even to a great distance, they are invariably brought again together by the inherent property of CALLING, which they possess in so powerful a degree, as to insure a very expeditious recovery of each other. The imitation of this call has been brought to great perfection by the fraternity of POACHERS, who avail themselves of the birds' too great credulity, which is frequently the cause of their destruction.
PASTERN
.—The pastern of a horse is the distance between the fetlock and the coronet, which terminates at the junction of hair and hoof. The pastern should be short, strong, and uniform; when long, it is proportionally weak; and the nearer the fetlock is to the ground, the more liable such horse is to be let down in the back sinews, and become lame.
PATTEN-SHOE
—was a shoe formerly used with lame horses; but from the palpable absurdity of its adoption, seems now to be nearly banished from modern practice. This shoe was constructed with a ring, circular, or nearly oval, at the bottom, which being fixed upon the SOUND foot, its intentional use was to compel the horse in all injuries to stand upon the lame leg, that a contraction of the muscular parts might be prevented. Happily such ridiculous and ill-founded notions are gliding into oblivion.
PATTERN-SHOE
—is a shoe formed upon rational principles, and of a scientific construction, for transmission to any part of the world, as a PATTERN by which the ART of SHOEING may be universally improved, and reduced to one general standard of purity and perfection.
PEDIGREE
.—The pedigree (or genealogical descent) of a horse is in the present day so fabricated by hearsay, or framed by fiction, that nothing less than a well-authenticated certificate, under the hand of the BREEDER, can with propriety be received as an indisputable proof of the PURITY of his BLOOD: and this is the more evidently necessary to a SPORTSMAN, lest he should be induced (relying upon his deceptive pedigree) to enter into a racing engagement, and that too, perhaps, for a sum of much magnitude; the whole of which, with the additional training expences, might be lost for want of that very blood he has been villainously taught to believe he has got in possession. To such an enthusiastic pitch has the desire of pedigree attained, under the fashionable sporting phrenzy of the time, that a horse is absolutely considered of neither value or utility, unless his pedigree is properly attested, and he is known to "carry the catalogue of his endowments by his side." The DEALERS (as well as others) are so well aware of this partiality for blood and pedigree, that every common roadster has the report of his get ready prepared, and no purchaser need be without it. Upon the subject of authenticated pedigrees, for near a century past, Mr. Weatherby's Stud Book is, beyond a doubt, the first publication extant.
The great merit and CREDIT of a PEDIGREE, consists in its continued and undivided chain of proofs on the distinct sides of both SIRE and DAM, up to such links as are eminently connected with the known authority, where no contamination could have taken place. A pedigree of one single descent is amply sufficient, where the reference terminates on each side, in a SIRE and DAM, whose pedigrees and performances are previously known. Instance: Jupiter was got by Eclipse, dam by Tartar; he is own brother to Mercury, Venus, and Volunteer; sire of Cardock, Halkin, Thunderbolt, Confederacy, Terror, Contest, &c.
PHEASANT
.—The pheasant is not only the most beautiful bird in plumage of any bred in this kingdom, but the first in estimation; not more for the sport it affords in the field, than its delicious attraction for the table. They are about one fourth less in size than common poultry, lay nearly the same number of eggs, and bring up their young in the same manner. They principally frequent the WOODS and hedge-rows, are seldom found in the fields, and then but very rarely far from covert: when upon WING, they are so exceedingly slow in flight, that he must be an exceeding bad marksman who does not HIT his BIRD. The pheasant is included in every successive Act for the preservation of the game; and although they are less liable than HARES and PARTRIDGES to the destructive depredations of the POACHERS, they suffer considerably by FOXES, MARTERNS, POLE-CATS, and other vermin.
Persons of every description, qualified and unqualified, stand exactly in the same state with respect to PHEASANTS as with PARTRIDGES, so lately described under that head, but with this difference in the legal season for taking or killing: it is enacted by two distinct legislative Acts of the present reign, That any person who shall, under any pretence whatever, take, kill, destroy, carry, fell, buy, or have in his possession, any PHEASANT, between the first day of February and the first day of October, (unless such pheasant shall have been taken in the proper season, and kept in a mew or breeding-place,) shall forfeit FIVE POUNDS for every PHEASANT so taken, to be paid to the informer, with full costs of suit.
PHÆNOMENON
—was one of the most celebrated sons of Herod, both as a RACER and a STALLION. He was bred by Sir J. Kaye, and foaled in 1780; was got by Herod, dam (Frenzy) by Eclipse, grand-dam by Engineer, out of Lass of the Mill, who was got by Traveller. His performances upon the turf so strictly corresponded with his name, that the infinity of mares brought to him in the first seasons of his covering, afforded him an opportunity of adding to his reputation in a degree almost beyond former example. He covered in Yorkshire at 10 guineas a mare, and in 1791 produced the following winners: Lord A. Hamilton's Chesnut Colt, who won two fifties; Freeholder, who won 100 guineas at York, and a 50 at Stockton; Mongrel, who won 25 guineas at Lewes; Pigeon, who won 200 guineas at York, 50 at Manchester, 50 at Wakefield, 50 at Boroughbridge, and 50 at Northallerton; Roman, 140 guineas at York; Rosalind, 700 guineas, and 300 guineas, at York, 300 guineas at Doncaster, and 50l. at New Malton; and Stride, 600 guineas at York.
In 1792, Lord A. Hamilton's Brown Colt, 120 guineas at Doncaster, and 50l. at Penrith; Charactacus, 50l. at Tenbury; Comet, 50 at York, 50 at Hull, and two 50's at New Malton; Forester, 50 at Carlisle; Freeholder, 50 at Durham; Heroine, 300 guineas at Newmarket, 100 guineas and 50 at ditto; Huby, 400 guineas and 50l. at York, 50l. and 50 guineas at Carlisle, and 100l. at Doncaster; Lizard, 50l. at Preston; Pigeon, 50l. at Catterick Bridge; Rosalind, 150 guineas at York, the King's Plate, and 50l. at Lincoln; Squirrel, 125 guineas at York, 160 at Wakefield, and 100 guineas at Doncaster.
In 1793, Comet won 80 guineas, the Stand Plate, and the King's Plate, at York; Heroine, the Queen's Plate at Chelmsford, the King's Plate and 70 guineas at Lincoln; Huby, 400 guineas at Newmarket, 175 guineas and 295l. at York; Messenger, 50l. at Manchester; Restless, 50l. at York, 100 guineas at Preston, and the King's Plate at Carlisle. In 1795, Ambush, 50 guineas at Wakefield; Charmer, 50l. at Catterick Bridge, 50l. at Lamberton, and 50 guineas at Stockton; Gay Deceiver, 300 guineas at Doncaster; Heroine, 50l. and 50 guineas at Newmarket, and the King's Plate at Lincoln; Huby, two 50's at Stockton, and the King's Plate at Dumfries; Sheperdess, 100 guineas at York.
To these excellent runners, in the successive years have been added Laura, Roseberry, Caroline, Bellissima, Wonder, Stella, Stripling, Tartar, Hyale, Jupiter, (Mr. Hawke's,) and many others who won large stakes as COLTS and FILLIES, but were never named.
PHYSIC
—is a term sometimes given (particularly in the country) to every kind of MEDICINE that can be administered to either MAN or HORSE: the more polished and general acceptation confines it solely to the operation of PURGING, in which sense alone it can be properly understood. It is but a few years (since the appearance of "The Gentleman's Stable Directory,") that the general necessity for, and palpable utility of, occasionally PHYSICING HORSES, became almost universally admitted. Its salutary effects stand, however, upon too firm a basis to be again shaken by the obtrusion of speculative opinions: there are but few, if any, remaining, who will presume to arraign or challenge the consistency of annually cleansing full thirty yards of the intestinal canal, replete with INTERSTICES, and appropriated to little other purpose than the excretion of filth.
Physic is prepared of different proportions, and of different ingredients, according to the purposes for which it may be designed. If only to soften and remove the accumulated contents of the bowels, and prevent PLETHORA, and its probable effects, the MILDEST degree will be sufficient. If the carcase is evidently enlarged, the vessels perceptibly distended, the horse dull, heavy, and inactive, a STRONGER must be brought into use. In cutaneous diseases, SWELLED LEGS of long standing, tendency to GREASE, old obstinate COUGHS and WORMS, mercurial physic had better be adopted; letting the extra care be proportioned to the mildness or severity of the season in which it is given. Under judicious and proper management, there is no more danger in the operation of MERCURIAL than in any other physic, provided it is faithfully prepared, and of the proportions by which safety is in a great degree to be insured; but if given in immoderate quantities, and little attended to during the progress of its operation, danger and death may probably ensue. Neither one, or the other, are, however, known to happen, where a proper degree of circumspection is used by those whose business it is to superintend the subordinates.
PICKER
.—A horse-picker is a small iron instrument, so truly convenient upon many emergencies, that a prudent traveller, or experienced sportsman, is hardly ever seen without one annexed to the handle of a knife which he carries in his pocket: its use is to extract stones, pebbles, or flints, from the bottom of the foot, when they are picked up in hunting, or upon the road. They are sometimes so firmly fixed between the inner edge of the SHOE and the FROG, that nothing but very violent force with a hammer can remove them; in such cases, horses are sometimes led a considerable distance to some dwelling-house, before the stone can be extracted; and the foot is probably bruised, or sustains a serious injury, for what might be obtained at a trifling expence, and carried with little inconvenience.
PIGEONS
—are the well-known domestic birds, of which there are only TWO sorts entitled to attention here, as affording equally nutritious support for the frame, but neither calculated to excite sport in the field, or emulative attraction in their destruction. The two different kinds are distinguished under the denomination of WILD and TAME; the former are bred in COTES and DOVE-HOUSES, (such as are seen at the rustic mansions of the great, and at large farms in open countries;) the latter in less numbers upon a smaller scale, and in receptacles of smaller construction, affixed to out-offices, barns, stables, or upon a pedestal; in either of which situations, they have their provision mostly before them. The WILD or dove-house pigeons, as they are called, breed only once a year generally; though there are many in the same flock who produce a second, or what is termed a harvest or autumn flight. Those called TAME pigeons, who are still more domesticated, have a greater degree of fecundity, and continue to breed a pair every month or five weeks during the year, except the three most severe and dreary months of winter.
For the protection of this species of property against the wanton attacks of the idle and ill-designing, it is enacted, by the 2d of George the Third, c. xxix. That any person who shall shoot at, or by any means kill or take, with a wilful intent to destroy, any PIGEON, he shall, on conviction thereof, by confession, or oath of one witness, before one Justice, forfeit 20s. to the prosecutor; and if not immediately paid, such Justice shall commit him to the house of correction, for any term not exceeding three months, nor less than one, unless the penalty be sooner paid. Persons who are convicted on this Act, shall not be convicted on any former Act; and prosecutions under this must be commenced within TWO MONTHS after the offence was committed.
PIGEON-SHOOTING
—is a sport principally resorted to at that season of the year when guns are laying dormant, and game of every other kind is, by the privilege of Parliament, permitted to enjoy its rest. Pigeon-shooting is a match between two individuals, or any fixed number on each side, and is decided by one, or the other, killing the greatest NUMBER of PIGEONS within an equal number of shots. The match made, and the place agreed on where it is to be decided, the dove-house pigeons are provided in proportion to the parties who stand engaged to shoot; of which there are generally four, five, or six, on each side; and as every individual feels disposed to shoot at least five or six times, less than eight or ten dozen are hardly ever procured for the occasion.
Previous to the commencement of the match, an open spot is fixed on, agreeable to the arbitrators, one appointed by each side; here TWENTY YARDS are measured with accuracy, and both extremities correctly marked. At one end a hole is made in the earth, in which is deposited a small box, about eight inches deep, six inches wide, and a foot long; its surface two inches above the level of the ground, with a sliding-lid running in a groove: to the front of this lid is affixed a string, or small cord, of one or two-and-twenty yards in length, which extended, will reach a little beyond the precise distance of twenty yards, where each of the parties concerned will afterwards stand to shoot. The preliminaries adjusted of having taken the toss, to determine which side is to take the lead, and all parties ready, a PIGEON is lodged in the BOX, and the runner (as he is called) resuming his post, by the side of the person whose turn it is to shoot, he is there ready to pull the STRING annexed to the SLIDER, and give liberty to the bird, the moment he is ordered by the SHOOTER so to do. It is a fixed rule, that the GUN is never to be advanced to the SHOULDER till the bird is upon wing; this is to be decided (as well as every other cause of dispute) by the persons appointed; and every pigeon so shot at, must fall to the ground within ONE HUNDRED YARDS of the BOX, or it is not admitted a BIRD KILLED, but a shot missed. The first person having shot, (hit or miss,) he is succeeded by one of the opposite side; and they continue to shoot in alternate rotation till the match is decided according to the original terms upon which it was made, in respect to the number of pigeons to be shot at by each distinct party, when those who kill the most are declared the winners, and entitled to the stakes made.
PILOT
.—There have been three horses of this name; two of which were excellent racers, and esteemed equal, as plate horses, to any of their time. The first was bred by Sir Charles Bunbury; foaled in 1762; got by Snap, dam by Cade, grand-dam by Crab, out of Lord Portmore's Abigail. The second was bred by Sir H. Harpur; foaled in 1770; got by Dainty Davy, dam by Blanck, grand-dam (Dizzy) by the famous and original Driver. The third was bred by the late Counsellor Lade; foaled in 1782, and got by the above, dam by Marske, grand-dam by Regulus. The two last won a great number of fifty-pound plates annually for several years in succession, and afterwards proved very excellent country stallions.
PLAY or PAY
,—a description of BET so made. Whether the subject of such bet be MAN or HORSE; the object a race, or a boxing match; either party being present at the time and place appointed, ready to perform their part of the engagement previously entered into; the other not appearing, or appearing, and then and there refusing to enter into the contest, upon the event of which the article or bet was originally formed, can lay no claim whatever to the stakes deposited; and the holder stands justified in handing such stakes over to the WINNER, having sufficient evidence in justification on his own part, to prove that it was bona fide a "PLAY or PAY" bet.
PLAY or PAY
,—the name of a horse of much recent and racing celebrity, the property of Mr. Durand. He was bred by Mr. Parker, and got by Ulysses out of Tiffany's dam. In 1794, at three years old, (in the name of Mars,) he won 50l. at Epsom, beating six others. At Stockbridge, a sweepstakes of 10 guineas each, nine subscribers. At Winchester he walked over the Course for a sweepstakes of 20 guineas each, eight subscribers. In 1795, when four years old, he beat Mr. Turner's Tim Tartlet, two miles for 200 guineas. The next day he beat Mr. Cauty's Alderman, two miles for 50 guineas. He won also 50l. at Guildford; a sweepstakes of 15 guineas each at Stockbridge, seven subscribers: the next day a sweepstakes of 10 guineas each, six subscribers. At Winchester, a sweepstakes of 10 guineas each, eight subscribers. At Egham he walked over for a sweepstakes of 10 guineas each, five subscribers. The next day he won a 50l. plate, beating Pandolpho and Serpent. In 1796, when five years old, he won the Craven stakes, of 10 guineas each, at Newmarket, beating eleven others. 50l. at Ascot Heath. In 1797, then six years old, he won 50l. at Epsom, beating five others. 50l. at Lewes, beating Gohanna and Keren-happuch. 50l. at Abingdon, beating Keren-happuch, Paroquet, and Roland. In consequence of having been so hard run for FOUR years in succession, he started SEVEN times in 1798 without once winning. In 1799, he won 50l. at Epsom, beating Yeoman and Midnight. 50l. at Guildford, beating Mr. Lade's David, and two others; and 50l. at Egham, beating Lord G. Cavendish's horse by Jupiter; after which he was purchased by Mr. Dashwood, in whose possession, at nine years old, in 1800, he beat Mr. Whaley's Post Boy, four miles over Ascot, for 100 guineas, and walked over at Egham for a sweepstakes of 20 guineas each, three subscribers: after which he appeared no more on the turf.
PLEURISY
—is a disorder in the horse so nearly allied to an INFLAMMATION of the LUNGS, that probably the most judicious and experienced Veterinarian would not, without much difficulty, be enabled to distinguish between one and the other. The predominant symptoms are sudden and violent: he first becomes heavy, dull, and oppressed; soon shews great difficulty of respiration, pants exceedingly; is distressed with an almost incessant painful endeavour to cough: the mouth continues, from the commencement of the attack, hot, parched, and dry: at this time he is exceedingly restless, frequently laying down, and as suddenly rising; but as the disorder advances, he stands in his stall so overwhelmned with fever, pain, and bodily oppression, that he displays no wish or desire to vary his position, but stands fixed in one posture, resigned to his fate. As the disease approaches nearer its crisis, a slimy saliva appears in the mouth, and a ropy viscid discharge from the nostrils. This being one of the disorders so rapid in its progress, and so destructive in its effects, as sometimes to set all efforts to relieve at defiance, every necessary means of counteraction should be most expeditiously adopted upon the first discovery of the attack.
It is in general produced by some sudden and powerful revulsion; as an instantaneous change from heat to cold, in which the perspiration becomes so severely checked by a collapsion of every pore, that NATURE sustains a shock, productive of almost immediate and perceptible morbidity. Journies of speed, and afterwards standing still in cold rains, or sharp winds, as well as being supplied with water when in a high state of PERSPIRATION, are probably the principal causes from which the disorder is mostly known to arise. The direct road to cure is too plain and unequivocal to admit of different opinions. Bleeding, and that both largely and repeatedly, must be submitted to, if circumstances require it; no hope of relief can be expected without it. It is no uncommon thing to bleed a horse four or five times in as many days, and his recovery to be justly attributed to that important mode of subduing inflammation. Gruel, impregnated with small quantities of NITRE and GUM ARABIC, should be the common drink. Mashes, of ground malt and bran, should be placed in the manger boiling hot, that the head, throat, and glands, may derive every possible advantage from FUMIGATION, to assist in taking off the pulmonary stricture, and promoting a plentiful discharge from the nostrils, which is one of the leading proofs that the disease has reached its crisis, and may be considered the first indicative expectancy of recovery. In the greatest bodily debility, when no food is taken, a cordial ball, dissolved in gruel, should be given (with a horn in small quantities at a time) twice a day. Equal parts of the wort squeezed from the malt, and good clean-boiled sweet gruel, should be patiently held before the horse twice or thrice in every hour for some minutes: from the great internal heat, he is frequently induced to swallow a quart or two at each time; although, if offered and taken away in haste, he might invariably decline it. It is only by such persevering attention, both NIGHT and DAY, any expectation of cure can be entertained.
PLUMAGE
.—The feathers upon every kind of fowl, wild or tame, is so termed: if speckled, or interspersed with different streaks, or opposite lights and shades, it is then called variegated plumage. If a GAME COCK is bred perfectly WHITE, he is called a SMOCK.
POACHERS
—are those determined destructive nocturnal depredators, by whom the game is so shamefully reduced in opposition to all LAW, and defiance of all ORDER, from one extremity of the kingdom to the other. This head cannot be better elucidated, than by transcribing literally, from the recent work of a writer of much celebrity, his judicious remarks upon the subject.
"It is, perhaps, among that description of persons well known by the name of poachers, that the greater number of those are trained to rapine, who infest every rural neighbourhood with their petty thefts, and whose dexterity almost bids defiance to precaution. Accustomed, in the ensnaring of game, to the secresy of fraud, and committing their depredations amidst the silence of night, those horrors, and that consequent dread, which frequently deters from the commission of great offences, gradually lose their effect. Solitude and darkness, which have wherewithal to appal the human mind in its first deviations into guilt, are divested of their terror in those pilfering pursuits; and the consequence is sufficiently well known to all, who, in the capacity of magistrates, are called to sit in judgment on the delinquency of public offenders. It is to this initiation they ascribe their subsequent enormities.
"When guilt, however venal, becomes, by repetition, familiar to the mind, it is not in the power of the ignorant and uneducated to restrain its excesses; they cannot arrest their career of iniquity; they cannot chalk out the line of wrong beyond which they will not pass. Confining their first nocturnal excursions to the snaring of HARES, and netting of PARTRIDGES, whenever they have a less booty than usual, they are tempted to compensate the deficiency by petty plunder of some other kind, and the log-pile, the stack, the fold, the hen-roost, all in turn, pay tribute to the prowling vagabond, who fills as he can that void in his "capacious bag," which has been left by his want of success as a POACHER.
"The great evil is, that a culprit of this class, feeling no compunction in the early stage of his guilt, proceeds carelessly to a state of the most complete degeneracy. Game is a species of property of which he has so indistinct a conception, that he scarcely thinks he has committed a moral injustice in the various stratagems by which he has contrived to obtain it; he sees not that the claim of a stranger is better than his; he knows not whence that absolute right in another to that which he has taken is derived; his companions, to whom he recounts his manœuvres, are more likely to applaud his cunning than to reprove his crime. Thus the remorse of conscience being but slight and feeble in the outset, the wretch is encouraged by degrees to trample on the laws with greater boldness, and at last suffers as a FELON."
That these facts are fairly stated, and the natural inferences judiciously drawn, must be candidly and universally admitted. Previous, however, to the conclusive remarks requisite under this head, it becomes directly applicable to introduce a few passages from another writer of equal eminence, who, in his animadversion upon the well-founded principle of the GAME LAWS, observes, "that, in a highly cultivated, well-peopled country, no animal can properly be considered as wild; all are supported by the property and labour of those who cultivate the soil. Some, from their peculiar instincts, are, indeed, less capable than others of being appropriated, and therefore, like lands uninclosed, are held as a joint property. But he who has no land, and consequently contributes nothing to their maintenance, is no more entitled to any use of them, than the inhabitant of one parish is to a right of commonage on the waste lands of another; and he who chuses to reside in a town, and to keep his property in money, has no more a pretence to seize to his own use a HARE, or a PARTRIDGE, than a sheep or a goose, from him who has chosen to vest his property in land. In the former, as in the latter case, he ought to tempt the owner to sell what is wanted."
Thus much is introduced from the speculative opinions of respectable writers upon the political and equitable basis of the GAME LAWS, which every rational observer, and good subject, will probably admit ought to be obeyed; although the great and infinite body of POACHERS, and that much greater infinity their ABETTORS, seem to be of a direct opposite opinion. However just, proper, and political, such laws may have been in their formation, and laudable in their continuance, little reliance can be placed upon the deceptive expectation of a reduction in the number of POACHERS, sanctioned and supported, as they are, by thousands in the Metropolis, and the middle classes of people in every CITY, TOWN, and VILLAGE, from one extremity of the Island to the other. If there is one of his Majesty's subjects so weak or inexperienced, as to suppose any one species of game is difficult to be obtained, he must be deplorably ignorant in the common occurrences of life, and requires to be informed, that the wholesale art and trade of poaching is carried on almost "as public as the noonday sun" during the whole of the season; and no one of that commercial and opulent body in the city, or epicure in the suburbs, sits down without game at his table whenever he pleases to order it: it is not the business of a steward, butler, or housekeeper, to expostulate upon what may be immediately obtained for MONEY, with a consolatory verification of the school-boy's well-known adage, that "one good turn deserves another;" and money in one hand can invariably procure game for the other.
There have always been two opinions held respecting the policy and prudence of the Game Laws, between two classes of people equally opposite to each other, the HIGHEST and the lowest; in support of which, it has been the persevering practice of the former, to enact laws for the protection of what they conceive their RIGHT; and the latter have been as invariably engaged (from one generation to another) in devising plans to counteract and undermine it: thus the cunning of one is engaged in a perpetual war with the POWER of the other, and most probably centuries only can ascertain the victory. Here the eye of impartiality will naturally advert to a passage from a writer lately quoted who is of opinion, that "a person having no land, and who chooses to keep his property in money, has no more right to a HARE or PARTRIDGE, than he has to the sheep or goose, from him who has chosen to vest his property in LAND." This writer, probably, in his hasty zeal to exalt the LANDED interest above its proper weight in the scale of WEALTH, had totally forgotten (or never knew) that great national depositary of immensity, called the Bank of England, situate in the City of London; the millions eternally in motion through the medium of COMMERCE, and moving in all directions, to every quarter of the globe; as well as the East and West India possessions, to an extent of riches beyond conception.
All these, to gratify the self-importance of the holders of a little land, the learned writer had found it convenient to bury in oblivion. Sir Roger de Coverley would most probably have said, (could he have been at this moment consulted upon the subject,) "Much may be said on BOTH sides." In saying which, he would have spoken wisely; for it cannot be conceived, that every individual of the infinity of STOCK-HOLDERS, who loyally place an implicit faith in the stability of Government, and embark all their property to support it, (in many instances from FIVE to FIFTY or a HUNDRED THOUSAND pounds each,) does not feel himself equally affected with the appetites of a GENTLEMAN, as he who possesses 100l. a year in LAND; and not feeling more disposed to sacrifice at the shrine of SELF-DENIAL than his neighbour, finds it necessary to avail himself of all the comforts and advantages to be derived from his MONEY, that the other does from his LAND; under which candid and impartial consideration it is fair to conclude, that so long as there shall be a natural propensity to good living, and the delicacies which Providence has so plentifully bestowed; so long as the monied THOUSANDS of the Metropolis shall incline to believe they are entitled to a participation; and so long as GAME shall be bred, and human degeneracy in the lower classes of society continue; so long will POACHERS continue undiminished, in opposition to every means that the utmost limits of human wisdom can suggest for their extirpation.