The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-03 00:00:00

LITERATUBB.

Oa the Proper Condition for all Horses. By Harry
Hieover. T. C. Newby.
It has already been the privilege of Harry
Hio-
over to enjoy several successes—successes, by the
way, none of them inconsiderable—as a contributor
to our sporting literature. And no wonder ! For
in sitting down to the composition of his volumes,
he possessed two very essential advantages, not un-
frequently altogether overlooked by the adventurer
into the realms of authorcraft. He took especial
care, we mean, before attempting to write the first
sentence in the first chapter of any one of his diffe-
rent productions, to provide himself with a clear
and complete knowledge of his subject, and to
feel perfectly conscious, before he commenced, that
he could impart that knowledge to others in a
manner readable and even exhilarating. Now, it
would seem from the character of not a few among
the works nowadays submitted to our criticism
that the writers go upon. a precisely different cal-
culation. They appear to think that they may the
most effectually accomplish their object, namely, in
obtaining an audience, by being in the first instance
altogether unacquainted with their subject, and, in.
the second, incapable of rendering
themselves, in
any other way than by the exposure of that igno-
rance, comprAmisible. It inay,zDoear exaggerated to
talk thus, but indubitably Vic's-0 who think so have
never been doomed, like the unfortunate re% ieWerS
Of a public journal, to wade through shoals of dog
grel to get at one respectable poem, through swarms
of indifferent novels to get at one tolerable romance,
through oceans of twaddle, and vapouring, and
rodomontade, to get at one scrap of common sense,
or at one fragment of really ser riceable informa-
tion. Among the writers of the hour, Harry Hie-
over is at least not one of these—he knows what he
has to tell us, and he says what he has to say in a
manner that altogether defies misapprehension. With
all this, too, he is gifted with a very congenial good
humour, and a very contagious hilarity. From
the first, you never dream for a moment of resist..
ing the influence of his very apparent bonhoymnie.
This, even, if you happen to be unluckily for your-
self a curmudgeon. He has you by the button-
hole even in the Preface. You feel that at once—
and resign yourself (not to an infliction, but) to an
entertainment. It is a' profitable entertainment
too, for through all those pleasant conversational
pages which the eye skims over, agreeably one after
another, until you find yourself suddenly
brought face to face with Finis, (of whom
the unlettered Irishman once said, " What a num-
ber of books that gentleman does write !")—you
find that your memory is being stored impercep-
tibly with a great many original hints, and a great
deal of really useful instruction. Harry Hieover
gives his instruction, moreover, not like a peda-
gogue, but rather, we should say, like a boon com-
panion ; and a companion, too, of a gay, rattling,
talkative, and yet unobtrusive and thoroughly
delightful, character. Here is his last book, for
example, which tells us everything that a reason-
able man can seriously want to know about the
Proper Condition for all Horses." 16 is just
such another little volume as the " Pocket and the
Stud ;" but while that tells us all about the value of
horses, this tells us all about their condition,. From
the title of the work, however, it must not by any
means be supposed that the author has ventured to
encroach upon the ground already entered by his
eminent predecessor—" the Nimrod, as a writer, of
his day"—the late Charles Apperly. In fact,
Harry Hieover disclaims the notion at the very
outset of his present performance. He says truly
enough, that any comparison between Nimrod's
work upon Condition and his own is effectually ob-
viated by the circumstance that the former applied
solely to the condition of hunters, whereas the latter
applies (as its title plainly enough intimates) to the,
condition of all horses indiscriminately. In ac-
cordance with this comprehensive view, the volume
before us is portioned out into six distinct chapters,
preceded by an " Introduction," and succinctly
acquaints the reader with the real state of the case
as to. the most desirable condition for the race-
horse, the hunter, the ladies'-horse, the hack, the
carriage-horse, and the cart-horse. In this way of
course the condition of the hunter is subordi-
nated to the condition of all horses gene-
rally, and Harry Hieover thus avoids any
direct collision with the theme originally monopo-
lised by Charles Apperly. From what has already
been remarked, it is obvious that the book here
noticed addresses itself to a larger number of read-
ers than perhaps any other of the same writer's
popular productions. It holds out a temptation to
the wealthy Turfite—to the country -gentleman
who follows the hounds—to the young lady who
carrocoles down Rotten-row during the dusty days
of " the season "—to the merest Guppy on "an
out " into any one of the suburbs of the
metropolis—to the physician and to the agri-
culturist. All these, and scores of others too
numerous and too obvious to need enmneratior,
will find interest in these pages, and nut only in-
terest but information. They are the result not
of theory, but- of practice ; _tot of conjecture, but of
observation. The author, indeed, if through no-
thing else, through thos: capital sketches given by
his pencil of the same Horse (" Fit to show," and
" Pit to go,") under two conditions—reveals clearly
enough his intimate acquaintance with the subject,
his knowledge of a theme which he has herein
thoroughly and delightfully mastered.

United Service.—lu this month's number we
Ond the commencement of an interesting paper by
Prince Joinville, on the French Navy, translated
by Sir Frederick Nicolson, R.N., in which the
Prince states that the existing French feet dates
its origin from 1839, in. the spring of which year
there were three line-of-battle ships on the Levant
station, which number was increased in November
of the same year to thir'ceen, and in the following
year to twenty ; and although subsequently re-
duced in 1847 to five, that owing to the skill and
energy displayed by Admiral Lal and, and his suc-
cessor Admiral Hugon, the fleet has from the first
maintained its character for discipline and effi-
ciency. The tone of bravado in which Princ©
Joinville sometimes writes, especially when the re-
spective merits of the English and French ships
are the subject of discussion, shows the satisfaction
that a brush with the enemy would have given that
gallant seaman. A French account of the war
with China, by A. Haussmapu, is continued, which
carries us to the retreat of the British squadron
from the Pekin river to Canton. M. Haussmarn

plainly and clearly narrates the movements and
operations of the contending parties, and his ac-
count is well 'worthy of perusal. The German
campaigns of Gustavus Adolphus, by C. E. Watson,
co*Ainues, and is a good history of the thirty years,
war in Germany, of which, notwithstanding its
importance, little is in general known by the public,
except the names of the celebrated generals who
took part in it. The campaign in the hills gives
some idea not altogether. disconnected with bricks
and mortar—of life at a new station in the Puu-
jaub—Notes by the You ugster of the Mess in a
gun-brig—must improve greatly as it continues to
find favour with the reader.