The village of Orleton is celebrated for a very large annual fair, which occurs on April 23; and a saying is connected therewith: "That the cuckoo always comes on Orleton fair-day;" which has doubtless arisen from the circumstance, that this "messenger of spring" generally arrives in this country by that day.
J. B. Whitborne.
"GIVE HIM A ROLL."—A PLEA FOR THE HORSE.
We learn, from the comedy of the The Clouds, that the Athenians were accustomed to refresh their horses after a race by allowing then to roll on the ground; for Pheidippides, the wild young man of the play, who spent much of his own time and of his father's money on the "turf," and who is shown in the opening scene fast asleep in bed, dreaming of his favourite amusement, says very quietly,
"Ἀπαγε τὸν ἵππον ἐξαλίσας οἴκαδε" [32]—
an order which he had probably often given to his groom at the Hippodrome, the Newmarket or Ascot of Athens.
I have often seen racing, I have often seen hunters brought home after a hard day's work, and I have read of forced marches, &c. made by cavalry and artillery; but never yet have I heard of an English Houyhnhnm, either at home or abroad, who was invited to refresh himself after his labours, civil or military, classically, with a roll.
Dobbin, that four-footed Ofellus,