66 STORIES ABOUT HORSES.

of the Irish groom, which I promised to tell
you.

“Two grooms, drinking at a public-house
door, one of them, who was mounted upon his
master’s hunter, which he had brought out for
exercise, boasted of its superior power of leap-
ing, when the other betted that the horse could
not clear a neighbouring wall. The height,
viewed from the horse’s back, was tremendous ;
nevertheless, full to the brim with Irish mettle
and whiskey, Patrick offered the leap to his
horse standing. After a little hesitation, the
horse reluctantly refused the leap; on which
the irritated rider, turning about, and canter-
ing to a considerable distance, turned it again,
and with his riding switch cutting it about the
ears, ran it at the wall. The generous horse
would not refuse a second time, but made a
desperate leap, and, being incapable of overtop-
ping such an altitude, his fore-feet struck against
the summit; yet the violence of his exertion
carrying him over, he came to the ground on