Geoffery Gambado Read online

  CHAPTER III.

  _How to make the most of a horse._

  Arrived at the stables, it was not long before Doctor Gambado introducedhis brother and friend Doctor Bull to the noted personage of his day,John Tattsall. Is the name of Tattsall, as it used to be called,corrupted, from a hundred years ago, now to that of Tattersall? We donot know the gentleman's dealer, auctioner, or horse agent of the lattername; but if he be the descendant of the great John Tattsall, we onlyhope he is as good a man as his ancestor. A better in his line couldnever be. It requires a knowledge of a man's craft, to say whether he isa good or bad workmen at it. We have very little knowledge ofhorse-dealers' craft, but their profits must be very great,--when thelicence is set so high as five and twenty pounds, before they canpractise the economy of horse-dealing. A hundred years ago, and the taxwas not so high.

  "This, John, is my friend, Doctor Bull, whom I recommended to yournotice to find him a horse in every respect quiet, without vice, andgentle,--one who would bear the whip and not kick."

  "Can the gentleman say I have not suited him?"

  "I do not say I am not suited, but I had almost as soon be nonsuited ina case of law, as be suited with so inactive a beast to ride."

  "Ah! sir, you speak like a tyro concerning the law. If you were once_nonsuited_, and had all the costs to pay in an action-at-law, believeme, sir, the being _non suited_ in a horse which had no action, would begreatly preferable to all the success of a case-at-law, though you weretold at the time that you got off cheap, after paying L150. Look, sir,at that cheque:

  "Please to pay to Messrs. Runner and Co. the sum of three hundred pounds, on account of transfer of property, to the account of

  Yours, faithfully, CURRY AND POWDER."

  How would you like that?"

  "I should not like it at all; but there are many things in law andhorse-dealing, which the least said about them the soonest ended."

  "And also in other things as well. But bring out the gentleman'schestnut horse, Sam."

  This was spoken to the groom, who knew his master's voice, and presentlybrought forth the very self-same horse, sent back to the stables onehour previously, as inactive: now behold him as lively as a lark.

  What had been done to him, those acquainted with the art of renovationcould alone tell; but here was a contrariety without going far to findit. The legs had been trimmed, the tail set up; and when the said JohnTattsall mounted him, the man and horse seemed to become each other.John was a true specimen of an upright horse-dealer, a hundred yearsago. Coat was buttoned up, hat almost as conspicuous as the FieldMarshal's on the day of a grand review. Stick under his arm, easy seatin his saddle, long spurs, short breeches, brown periwig, and such acontour of character, that when he touched him with the spur, thefiery-eyed charger set off at a Hyde Park canter, to the delight of hislearned spectators.

  No one could be more pleased than Doctor Bull. "Aye! that is the way tomake the most of a horse. Could I but make as much of him as that, hewould be, of all creatures, the very one to set me up again? That willdo, Mr. Tattsall, that will do. You have given me a good lesson how tomake the most of a horse."

  "Then, sir, you must let me make the most of him alone. One hundredguineas, is his price; and this is my advice to you, never take thishorse out of his stable without giving him a good brush-up first. Andnever get on to his back, without a pair of spurs on your feet; and youwill find him as pleasant a little park horse as any gentleman couldever wish to ride."

  The money was paid, and _John Tattsall made the most of him_. But DoctorBull made all that he expected out of him; namely, a restoration from afit of Hypochondriacism into which he never after relapsed; but owed hiscure to the honest advice of Geoffery Gambado, Esq. M.D. F.R.S.

  "The simplest remedy, is mostly sure; 'Twill never kill; but almost always cure."