very soon being worn out; added to which, no coachman can keep time where the stages are long: this is a fact allowed by every one having any experience in coaching matters. Where stages are long, it is worse labour than thrashing in the barn to drive a coach.

Short stages are economical in the end, as the stock do so much better, to say nothing of the humanity of the thing. It can always be arranged for horses to work so, either by their running out and in if an every-day coach, or if there is another on the road belonging to the same party, going out in one, and back in the other. Should it be only a three days a week coach, that is to say, going up one day and down the following, it is better to divide the stages as much as possible. If a horse has to work a certain number of miles every day throughout the year, he will not stand it long. A man in this respect would beat him, being more capable of enduring fatigue for any length of time; this has been proved beyond all doubt in matches on which were bets, and which have all been decided in favour of man. As I mentioned in a previous article, two coachmen ought never to drive the same horses, as they do not work pleasantly to themselves or their driver when such is the case. Men's hands are so different, as is their mode of driving, that it ruffles the horse's tempers to have such repeated changes. For myself, I can always tell if any one has been riding or driving my horses, as I find a difference immediately, both in their mouths and manner of going; nothing can be more unpleasant than to ride a horse after any one having a heavy hand; there is a dead feel in the mouth you cannot mistake. Servants are apt to be defective on this point, which is the cause of their throwing horses down so frequently. Ladies have proverbially light hands, hence the reason they are carried much more pleasantly by horses which under men go badly. I am acquainted with a case in point, which came lately under my immediate notice, of a horse which was in the hands of a man perfectly unmanageable, no one could ride him, and indeed, it was with difficulty he could be dressed; yet this animal carried a woman as quietly as could be desired, and was as gentle as a lamb; this is strange, but there are many like cases. Young horses are frequently spoilt by the bad temper of those about them and by horse-breakers; these latter are generally worthless fellows, and are one and all given to imbibe. For this cause I never permit a colt of my own to be taken any distance from my house when in the hands of the jockey; if you lose sight of him he most likely gets with some kindred spirits into a public house, which he does not leave till he is half seas over, whilst your unfortunate horse is shivering in some cold stable or out-house, with the chance of being kicked by some other animal into the bargain, to say nothing of its catching the glanders or some nearly equally bad disease. Yet, notwithstanding all these risks, many persons allow their colts to be ridden about the country for the use or amusement of breakers, who frequently take them out in the morning and do not return home till night.

I was

It is a surprise to me that more accidents do not occur. walking, a few days back, along a retired lane, and found a colt-breaker I was acquainted with, lying on his back, "drunk as an owl," with a young horse he had only that morning mounted, standing quietly over him. I at first thought he was dead, but soon found, by the manner in which he informed me he was all right, that he was under the influence of Sir John Barleycorn; all right in such cases invariably meaning all

wrong. You never met with a drunken man in a helpless state who did not assert he was all right. It is fortunate for such men that young horses are generally more stubborn than vicious, and when first mounted are more like donkeys than anything else. Much patience and judgment are required when first putting a horse in harness; if in double it should always be with a steady partner, whose temper cannot well be ruffled; the pole-chain should be slack, and let him be without bearing-reins. Great care must be observed, when putting him to, that his tail or hind quarters do not touch the roller-bolt or any portion of the carriage. Always start the old horse first, and never allow the young one to do so; at first, a man may run on either side till he goes steady, the one next the pupil having him in a halter; this may be discontinued after the first two or three trials. You cannot be too gentle with a colt when he is first put into a carriage; for this reason, I always superintend this matter myself, to see that no roughness is used. I have seen other people's horses so bullied by their men that I shall never depart from so doing; added to which, I like the thing and take an interest in it, therefore it is an amusement to me and never a trouble. Farmers mostly adopt the plan of putting their colts into the plough, which certainly is a good plan, so far that a horse cannot do himself any harm if he plunges or is in any way restive; but I object to it on the score that it gives a heavy and slovenly mode of going, to the animal; the farmers are likewise in the habit, at the same time, of riding their horses to market; therefore, what with working in the plough and being ridden at a nasty butter and eggs pace, with a heavy hand upon them, causes them to adopt a mode of going that is difficult to get rid of, when they get into other hands.

The farmers rarely break their horses, but sell them in the rough ; and it is better they should do so, for they would teach them nothing good; and it is easier to teach from the beginning than to get rid of what has been badly taught. So it is with men, as well as horses, and is exemplified every day in the rising generation. I regret to say, farmers have not the fancy for breeding horses that they had; some little time ago the prices were so bad that it did not remunerate them for so doing, consequently there is a great scarcity of really good horses in the country, a fact much to be regretted. The length of time that exists from the period a colt is foaled till it be fit for sale is so great, tha unless a certain price be obtained, breeding does not pay; added to which, if the mare drops a filly it is of little value. The frequent accidents also which occur to this species of stock deters many from entering into this speculation.

Our government do not in any way encourage breeders, and very unwisely have permitted many of our best stallions and brood mares to be taken by foreigners out of the country, who will improve their stock to the injury of the British farmer. In concluding this article I take leave of the subject by sincerely hoping and wishing that the prospect for the yeomen of England may, with the advancing year, be brighter; and that though they are at present in a very unsatisfactory position, things may improve, and a good time come: if such be not the case, our sturdy farmer will be no more, our hitherto famous breed of hunters will degenerate, and consequently our name as a sporting country will be gone. That these things may never be is the sincere wish of

RAMROD.

"THE COURSER'S COMPANION."

ENGRAVED BY E. HACKER, FROM A PAINTING BY W. AND Ħ. BARRAUÐ.

The worst, and perhaps the best too, of your true sportsman is, that The fox he is so terribly intent on the pursuit he devotes himself to. et præteria spirit which carries a man through a run clings equally to him whether his Cotherstone colt be contesting the first heat for the plate, He thinks of, talks of, or his favourite bitch her last tie for the cup. be; and and sees nothing but the race or the course, as the case may his enjoyment of the scene depends mainly on the decision of the event. Few still, however, have so many opportunities for catching stray "bits " of character and place, few whose recreations produce so many and various interesting situations," or unintentionally furnish so much good matter for the lover of nature, of art, and of effect.

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Until within the last few years, the artist, or animal painter, who followed in his wake, seemed scarcely more alive to the value of these opportunities than the sportsman himself. A model, almost stiff, and as sacred as the white horse in a saddler's window, gave the standing orders for "a favourite hunter;" the hound came introduced quite as shorn of any assistance in the way of arrangement or scenic support; and when the two were grouped together, nine times in ten every figure was made to look as awkward and out of place as possible, appearing themselves to echo the wonder of the spectator, and to be asking how they ever happened to come together at all. Friend Brush, in fact, lived by making portraits, and not pictures; and so long as he was quite correct in his estimate of white legs and bald faces in his horses, and square heads and well divided pies in his hounds, he felt he had done his duty with his likeness, and seldom tried to do anything more.

The case is altered now though. Your animal painter, or sporting subject man, will produce some of the finest and most telling pictures of his day. He sees attractions where none were seen before, and portrays character as well as feature, applies to taste to help out fidelity, and refines for all, by the excellence of his execution, what else might pass for common-place and "class interest" alone. It is so that Landseer climbs the hill-top, with the feeling of the poet vying with that of the sportsman, as he shifts his gun for his pencil to strike out the first sketch of a picture that shall hereafter challenge all London to its admiration. It is so that Abraham Cooper, quite as hearty a sportsman, records his life on the moors; and it is in this same spirit, influenced by this same taste and appreciation, that the Brothers Barraud furnish as with pictures available to many, instead of portraits intended for and understood by but few.

Our first illustration for this month was, we should take it, originated very much in the manner we have endeavoured to describe. It is what in technical terms might be called " a nice bit," and so far more likely