Authors
,—who have dedicated much time and labour to the infinity of subjects which these Volumes will contain, have been both numerous and respectable; and to those who are accustomed to see things through a single medium, it will seem matter of surprise, that any thing NEW, INSTRUCTIVE, or ENTERTAINING, should be still left worthy of public attention; but when the unceasing influence, and decisive dictates of fashion; the abolition of old sports, and introduction of new; the various regulations in, and increase of, the penal laws for the preservation of GAME, and the privileges of killing; in addition to the great and unprecedented national exertion in the reformation of FARRIERY, since the publication of the present Author's Stable Directory, are taken into the aggregate; it will be found, by the judicious and enlightened part of the SPORTING WORLD, that a more modern, comprehensive, and explanatory work, has not been too soon obtruded upon PUBLIC PATRONAGE. To enumerate individually here, those Authors, of the greatest celebrity, whose endeavours or productions have stood the highest in general estimation, would prove not only unnecessary, but superfluous, as they will of course be occasionally adverted to, and remarked upon, under different heads in the progress of the Work.
ARTISTS
—are gentlemen, the aid of whose pencils, in the decorative department of sporting publications, is considered so immediately necessary (particularly with the younger branches) in all matters of minutiæ requiring accurate representation, that the success is frequently considered doubtful and uncertain without the attractive influence of their professional exertions. It has been observed, and must be freely admitted, that, till within the last third of the last century, HORSES, DOGS, and GAME, have appeared less upon canvas (in proportion to the progress of the art) than any subjects whatever: whether they were thought less worthy the study and pencil of the master, or productive of less emolument, it may not be possible, nor is it much to the purpose, to ascertain. Certain it is, they have never, at any former period, so nearly approached the summit of perfection as at the present moment; never were artists known more emulous; never were finer pictures produced by the foreign pencils of fertility, than are now exhibited by the natives of our own island; nor ever were artists of this description so largely patronized, or so well rewarded.
Elmer, whose paintings of GAME excited the astonishment and admiration of every beholder for forty years past, has lately paid his last debt, with one of the best and most unsullied characters that ever accompanied man to the grave: but what is equally to be regretted, is the total destruction and loss of his very valuable collection (soon after his death) by an accidental fire near the Haymarket, where they had been but lately deposited and arranged for exhibition; constituting an irreparable misfortune to those whose property they were become by his decease, and no small disappointment to CONNOISSEURS, amongst whom they would most probably have been divided at some future period by public sale.
The PROFESSIONAL ARTISTS, or, as they are now more familiarly termed, animal painters, who derive present advantage from public protection and personal popularity, are not numerous, but truly respectable; each enjoying the happy effect of his own peculiar excellence, in the gradations of favour, a discriminating and indulgent public is always so truly ready to bestow. Of these, the names of Stubbs, Gilpin, Marshall, Garrard, and Sartorius, appear the most prominent. Others there are, but of much inferior note, who do not at present promise (by the specimens they have displayed) to soar above the planetary influence of mediocrity. Various productions of the rest of those just mentioned, have for years in succession graced the exhibition of the Royal Academy at Somerset House, where they have been as repeatedly honoured with ROYAL as with general approbation: but whether it is owing to a superiority of good fortune, or to a superiority of his genius, Marshall is the only instance of an artist's having so early in life, and with so much rapidity, reached the summit of princely patronage, as well as the very zenith of professional celebrity, without having once submitted a single production of his pencil to the caprice of public opinion at the shrine of fashion, hitherto considered the only possible and direct road to Fame and Fortune.
ABSCESS
.—An abscess (in either man or beast) is an inflammatory tumour, constituting a progressive formation of matter from some serious injury previously received by blow, bruise, or accident. It may also proceed from plethora, or gross humours originating in a too viscid (or acrimonious) state of the blood; as well as a morbid disposition of the fluids; and many degrees of latent ill usage, to which HORSES are incessantly subject, from the too well-known and irremediable inhumanity of the lower classes, to whose superintendence and management they are unavoidably, and must inevitably, continue to be entrusted. From whatever cause an abscess may proceed, judicious discrimination should be expected and enjoined from the practitioners employed; many of whom (particularly of the old school) possess, and indulge in, the unhappy fatality of endeavouring to counteract Nature, and to set all her powerful efforts at defiance. Under this mistaken notion of scientific practice, in such and similar cases, great difficulties frequently arise; not more in respect to the very evident ill effect of erroneous treatment, but in the disappointment occasioned by a procrastination of cure.
The very basis and foundation of an abscess being a cavity continually enlarging internally by the propulsive force of matter collecting within, will sufficiently demonstrate the inconsiderate folly, and extreme obstinacy, of endeavouring to repel, by the interposing and improper power of spirituous repellents, or saturnine astringents, what Nature is making her most strenuous efforts to discharge. In all slight and superficial appearances of tumefaction, where there are no immediate or strong signs of suppuration, the use of moderate repellents may be adopted with judgment, and in most cases with success; but when the predominant, and almost invariable, symptoms of increased swelling, great heat, with pricking and darting sensations, (in the human frame,) or visible increase of the enlargement, and palpable pain upon pressure, in the HORSE, denote the formation of matter to be going on, all attempts at repulsion must be instantly laid aside; not only as nugatory, but as tending to mischief in the extreme. Such treatment persevered in, would evidently not only retard, but positively destroy, every chance of ultimately effecting a purpose, for which alone the experiment could have been made. The consequence would soon prove decisive, by a termination in either an indurated tumour, a fixed schirrus, a partial and imperfect suppuration, a fistulous wound, or an inveterate and ill-conditioned ulcer. As, however, it is not intended to extend the Work to a complete system of ANATOMY, SURGERY, PHYSIC, or FARRIERY, but to render its utility more general and diffusive, reference must be occasionally and necessarily made to the professors of either, or to the books particularly appropriated to the subject of each.