The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-19 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The illustrated Horse Management. By Edward
Mayhew. One vol., pp. 612. W. H. Allen and
Co.
We have read Mr. Mayhew's book with all the
attention which it so eminently merits, and we can
have no hesitation in asserting that it is the most
comprehensive and instructive work on the subject
of horse management which we have ever had the
good luck to meet with. Our author writes as an
enthusiast in behalf of his noble protege, and
quoting a fact ascertained by dissection, that the
liver of the horse, like the gizzard of the dove, has
no gall bladder, he founds a strong opinion as to
the similarity of disposition on this strange resem-
blance of physical construction, and claims for his
favourite animal that lcving gentleness of which
the cooing bird is the universally-chosen emblem.
Mr. Mayhew's object cannot fail to enlist our sym-
pathy, while the lucid and able manner in which
he performs the literary portion of his task is well
calculated to convince his readers of the soundness
of his views and the value of his recommendations.
Possessing a thorough knowledge of the horse and
his belongings—having witnessed his treatment in
careful hands from infancy to venerable old age,
and seen him in well-constructed stable and com-
fortless bivouac, in the pride of his power in the
hunting-field, and in the depth of his misery when
enduring the privations of a campaign—we were
vain enough to suppose that we required no
" wrinkles" as to the treatment adapted to him in
prosperity or distress. Yet we must candidly
admit that Mr. Mayhew affords us information on
some points which is both valuable and new to us.
There is nothing connected with the noble animal
from his internal conformation to his ex-
ternal points, from his food to his physic,
which is not explained, and illustrated by
admirable woodcuts in the work before us. Every
implement required for dressing his body or ad-
ministering remedies, from the " ticker" to the
"ball-iron," nay, even the very hay and oats he
feeds on, their defects or good qualities, all are not
only clearly described but actually presented to our
view in coloured prints, so that the most inexpe-
rienced tyro, if he only attends to the directions he
receives, may guard himself from being hum-
bugged by his servant, or cheated by his trades-
people. The first subject after anatomy and physic
which Mr. Mayhew touches upon is the alhimpor-
tent one of shoeing. The individual afflicted with
corns, who is obliged to walk in tight boots, may
form some idea, though but a faint one, of the suffer-
ings of the horse whose foot is bound up in an ill.
fitted shoe. The man has this advantage, that his
instruments of torture can be removed at pleasure,
and need under any circumstances be borne with
only for a limited portion of the day, while those of
the poor animal remain permanently fixed, a con-
stant and unremitting source of misery and irritation.
His exposure of the misconduct of blacksmiths is
well worthy of serious attention. Mr. Mayhew,
along with his own criticisms as to their faulty
forms, gives illustrations of every description of
shoe which has heretofore been adopted, from the
thin plate of the Arab to the model now used in
this country. We agree with him in his condem-
nation of the shoe so generally approved of, and are
quite of his opinion regarding the superiority of the
one he suggests, which would be barely wide enough
to cover and protect the horn of the hoof. hether,
or not, the "slipper," which he recommends, would
prove an advantage, must depend upon the result of
a trial, which can be easily made, as to its capability
of adhesion when the horse is passing over heavy
ground, With regard to the method of attaching
the shoe, there can be no doubt of the necessity
(whatever may be its shape) of driving nails into
the toe. Such is the practise pursued in the army,
and universally adopted by the people of France.
We cannot coincide with Mr. Mayhew when he
proposes that saddle horses should be invariably fed
on moistened food, for we cannot conceive how
hunters could, on such diet, be brought into such
condition as would enable them to support the
hard work to which they are subject. Occa-
sional stimulants of malt liquor, such as
he advises for jaded horses, are, as we
know from experience, most beneficial, and we have
seen even spirits administered in such cases with
the greatest success. An Irish friend of ours, a
thorough sportsman, was in the habit of giving a
favourite huntress half a pint of whiskey mixed
with three pints of water when he had far to return
home after a severe run. She acquired a strong
liking for grog, and it was amusing to witness the
impatience with which she awaited her cheering
beverage when they reached the first pot-house on
their road. The same gentleman, on the occasion
of a steeplechase in which he was engaged, gave
the same animal, who became amiss when about to
start, a pint of whisky in a pint of water as he pre-
pared to mount. The mare came evidently quite
jolly to the post, seemingly oblivious of everything
but the work in hand—carried twelve stone over
four Irish miles, with forty-seven fences, in fourteen
minutes, and won a slashing race by half a length
after a desperate struggle in the run home with a
stallion. Although the erection of stables such as
Mr. Mayhew describes, and such as all men con-
versant with the requirements of horses must most
warmly approve of, would be impracticable in vast
cities, and can only be hoped for in the large coun-
try establishments of persons of fortune. Still,
there is no one, however limited his space, who may
not profit by his suggestions. His description of the
consequences which result from the universal prac-
tice of constructing the floors of stalls with a fall from
the manger to the gutter, and a look at the wood-
cut which represents them, will, we have no doubt,
be quite sufficient to abolish a system so detrimental
to the health and comfort of the horse. We were
not before aware of the evil produced by a slanting
floor so feelingly described by Mr. May hew, although
we had often remarked what is exemplified in one
of his illustrations, that horses at large, when select-
ing a position of ease, invariably placed the forelegs
lower than the hind ones, thus assuming, when left
free from control, the very reverse of the position
they are compelled to adopt when we stable. It
would be impossible within the limits of a literary
notice to point out ail the merits of a book, which
has been got up in a style worthy of all praise.
Suffice it to say that Mr. Mayhew treats most judi-
ciously the subject of stud breeding and breaking,
and that he points out most fearlessly the miscon-
duct of groums, and the knavish tricks of low horse-
dealers. "The Illustrated Horse Management" is
a work which should find a place in the library of
every country gentleman, for the most experienced
may derive benefit from its perusal, and armed
with it, the person who requires a sound and useful
animal, although unacquainted with the defects of
horseflesh, will be enabled to accomplish his object,
and to defend himself with success against the cle-
verest devices of the most lenowing Yorkshireman.

KING GEORGE 111., accurately sketched by a
Saturday Reviewer.—" Farmer George" was popular
with country squires and parsons, but not generally with
the more intelligent classes of his subjects. It was notorious
that he interfered with his responsible Ministers ; that he
tampered with elections ; that he kept in mind his mother's
dangerous precept, " George, bo king." His tendencies
were despotic; his prejudices invincible; his intellect was
shrewd, but narrow. At Windsor, however, and in manor
houses and rectory houses, these Tailings wore accounted
merits, or forgiven in consideration of the " homely kind-
ness of his nature." If he was not a King of the Commons,
he was a King for commonplace people. His life was as
regular as his numerous time-pieces ; he was diligent and
methodical in business, he dined early, he was a constant
husband, he hunted, he farmed, he knew everybody's busi-
ness, he greeted everybody heartily, he gossiped exceed-
ingly, his were the loudest responses in church, his the
loudest laughter at the play. His wife and daughters went
shopping, like ordinary matrons and maidens. On state
occasions he bore himself with becoming dignity ; but in
his ordinary blue coat turned up with red, his leather
breeches and top-boots, he was as unlike those German
potentates George I. and IL, and as much like a
true Briton, as John Bull himself could desire. Madame
D'Arblay has made us familiar with the interior of Wind-
sor Castle. It was far from being a castle of indolence or
comfort, for although to her lord Charlotte was not a grey
mare, her hand was heavy on her tire women and depen-
dents. Routine and rigid punctuality, dulness and discre-
tion, were absolute, from the summit of the Round Tower
to the verge of the Park. Pleasure partook of the charac-
ter of penance in those Royal precincts. We do not wander
that the sons of the house took every occasion of ab-
sence:; but we maryol that the daughters of tho house did
not elope,