ken notion,
that it is to the turf alone the excellence of the English horse is
attributable.

One person of this description, whom I saw there for a short time, I had
the pleasure of knowing before; and from him I learned many interesting
anecdotes of individuals whom he pointed out as having been once well
known about town, but whose attachment to gambling had effected their
ruin. Personal stories of this kind are, however, not within the scope
of this work.

As soon as we entered, Mr. Slick called my attention to the carriages
which were exhibited for sale, to their elegant shape and "beautiful
fixins," as he termed it; but ridiculed, in no measured terms, their
enormous weight. "It is no wonder," said he, "they have to get fresh
hosses here every ten miles, and travellin' costs so much, when the
carriage alone is enough to kill beasts. What would Old Bull say, if
I was to tell him of one pair of hosses carryin' three or four people,
forty or fifty miles a-day, day in and day out, hand runnin' for a
fortnight? Why, he'd either be too civil to tell me it was a lie, or
bein' afeerd I'd jump down his throat if he did, he'd sing dumb, and let
me see by his looks, he thought so, though.

"I intend to take the consait out of these chaps, and that's a fact. If
I don't put the leak into 'em afore I've done with them, my name ain't
Sam Slick, that's a fact. I'm studyin' the ins and the outs of this
place, so as to know what I am about, afore I take hold; for I feel
kinder skittish about my men. Gentlemen are the lowest, lyinest,
bullyinest, blackguards there is, when they choose to be; 'specially if
they have rank as well as money. A thoroughbred cheat, of good blood,
is a clipper, that's a fact. They ain't right up-and-down, like a cow's
tail, in their dealin's; and they've got accomplices, fellers that
will lie for 'em like any thing, for the honour of their company; and
bettin', onder such circumstances, ain't safe.

"But, I'll tell you what is, if you have got a hoss that can do it, and
no mistake: back him, hoss agin hoss, or what's safer still, hoss agin
time, and you can't be tricked. Now, I'll send for Old Clay, to come in
Cunard's steamer, and cuss 'em they ought to bring over the old hoss and
his fixins, free, for it was me first started that line. The way old Mr.
Glenelg stared, when I told him it was thirty-six miles shorter to go
from Bristol to New York by the way of Halifax, than to go direct warn't
slow.