skin, and I understand that he escaped with little injury, beside the sadly-rent and totally-ruined state of

his toggery.

"The Whisperer was sent for, who, having arrived, was shut up with the horse all night, and in the morning he exhibited this hitherto ferocious animal following him about the course like a dog, lying down at his command, suffering his mouth to be opened, and any person's hand to be introduced into it: in short, as quiet as a sheep.

“He came out the same meeting and won a race, and his docility continued satisfactory for a long time; but at the end of about three years his vice returned, and then he is said to have killed a man, for which he was destroyed."

The Rev. Mr. Townsend in the work already mentioned gives the following account of this man, with an example of his skill in the art of breaking vicious horses

"I once saw his skill tried on a horse which could never before be brought to stand for a smith to shoe him. The day after Sullivan's half-hour's lecture I went, not without some incredulity, to the smith's shop, with many other curious spectators, where we were eye witnesses of the complete success of his art. This, too, had been a troop-horse, and it was supposed, not without reason, that after regimental-discipline had failed no other would be found availing. I observed that the animal appeared terrified whenever Sullivan either spoke or looked at him; how that extraordinary ascendancy could have been obtained is difficult to conjecture.

"He seemed to possess an instinctive power of inspiring awe, the result, perhaps, of natural intreppearin which, I believe, a great part of his art s proper

though the circumstance of the tete-a-tete shows that on particular occasions something more must have been added to it. A faculty like this would in some hands have made a fortune, and I understand that great offers were made to him for the exercise of his art abroad. But hunting was his passion. He lived at home in the style most agreeable to his disposition, and nothing could induce him to quit Duhallow and the foxhounds."

The author of " Fairy Legends, and Traditions of Ireland," thus describes his abilities and appear

ance:

"He was an awkward ignorant rustic of the lowest class, of the name of Sullivan, but better known by the appellation of the Whisperer.' His occupation was horse-breaking. The nickname he acquired from the vulgar notion of his being able to communicate to the animal what he wished by means of a whisper; and the singularity of his method seemed in some degree to justify the attribute. In his own neighbourhood, the notoriety of the fact, made it less remarkable, but I doubt if any instance of similar subjugating talent is to be found on record. As far as the sphere of his control extended, the boast of vini, vidi, vici, was more justly claimed by Sullivan than by Cæsar himself.

"How his art was acquired, and in what it consisted, is likely to be for ever unknown, as he has lately left the world (about 1810), without divulging it. His son, who follows the same trade, possesses but a small portion of the art, having either never learned the true secret or being incapable of putting it into practice. The wonder of his skill consisted in the celerity of the operation, which was performed in private without any apparent means of coercion. Every description of horse, or even mule, whether previously broken

or unhandled, whatever their peculiar habits or vices might have been, submitted without show of resistance to the magical influence of his art, and in the short space of half an hour became gentle and tractable. This effect, though instantaneously produced, was generally durable. Though more submissive to him than others, they seemed to have acquired a docility unknown before.

"When sent for to tame a vicious beast, for which he was either paid according to the distance, or generally two or three guineas, he directed the stable in which he and the object of the experiment were to be shut, with orders not to open the door until a signal was given. After a tete-a-tete of about half an hour, during which little or no bustle was heard, the signal was made, and upon opening the door the horse appeared lying down, and the man by his side playing with him like a child with a puppy-dog. From that time he was found willing to submit to any discipline, however repugnant to his nature before."

Mr. Castly saw the son of this Sullivan try his efforts on a horse of the regiment to which that gentleman belonged, but the mantle of the father not having dropped on the son, it proved a total failure. The elder Sullivan's fame rests upon the authority of so many persons worthy of credit, that the performance of such wonders as the most savage horses yielding at once to his influence might otherwise be doubted.

ON STABLE MANAGEMENT.

NOTHING tends so materially to improve the appearance, condition, and health of the horse, as proper

Stable Management; it necessarily, therefore, from its importance, demands our strictest observation and care, since to negligence in this department of the general economy of the animal may be traced most of those diseases which militate against and derange the natural functions of the body.

In his natural state, the horse enjoys all the advantages of fresh and pure air, with no restriction of light; the first things then that claim our attention must be the Construction and Ventilation of the stables.

In the construction of these buildings there are many points to be kept in view; viz., situation, loftiness, the due width of stalls, and a proper declivity of the floor.

Situation is a thing to which we are unable, very frequently, to attend: an elevated spot is always to be taken if possible: valleys and wet marshy ground are very prejudicial to the comfort and health of the horse: all low situations are apt to exhale a moist and chilly air, which will engender rheumatism or colds, and at times even fever. The soil is also much drier on high ground than in a hollow.

Loftiness is particularly essential; it allows freer circulation of air than when the building is low.

The size of the stable must vary according to the number of horses it is intended to contain. For half a dozen, forty feet in length by fourteen in width is as little a space as could be allowed for their use. The height should vary from fifteen to eighteen feet, although they seldom rise higher than twelve, and some not so much, especially when the loft is over the stalls.

In all cases it is necessary to plaster the roof or ceiling; in the first instance it prevents the admission of any currents of air; in the other, it keeps the bad at

mosphere of a close stable from penetrating through the crevices of the boards, and this, in a great measure, preserves the hay or other dry food kept there, and which, by such neglect, is rendered highly injurious and unwholesome from the rank taste and smell it acquires.

The width of the stall should be about six feet, by no means less. There is but little flexibility in the spine of the horse, and great and irremediable danger has followed any sudden motion of turning the animal hastily in a confined space. Nine or ten feet should be the length, and the height such as to prevent them smelling each other.

Each stall should be furnished with a rack and manger; the manger should be eighteen inches wide, and two feet and a half in length. The common rack is made with staves in the front; another method is sometimes made use of-the hinder portion of the rack is made of wood, and gradually slopes in an inclined plane towards the front, terminating about two feet downwards; the lower portion of the front is entirely closed, the staves only being found in the upper part. By the use of this rack there will not only be a great saving of the hay, from the inability of the animal pulling it down upon the litter, by which means a vast quantity is often wasted, but the hay-seeds and dust will not be so liable to fall on the horse's head, to the frequent injury of his eyes.

The length of the halter should not be more than four or five feet, which will be sufficient to allow him to lie down with ease.

As regards the declivity of the floor, many stables have a descent highly injurious and inconvenient to the animal. It is true, that when the paving slopes considerably the urine will flow more readily from the