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THE fir&longs;t reflection that ari&longs;es, is, the
good &longs;en&longs;e of the Captain; who was
unwilling to impo&longs;e his hor&longs;e for a racer;
not being qualified for the cour&longs;e. Because,
as an old lean bea&longs;t, attempting a
trot he was re&longs;pectable enough; but going
out of his nature, and affecting &longs;peed,
he would have been contemptible. The
great &longs;ecret of pre&longs;erving re&longs;pect, is the
cultivating and &longs;hewing to the be&longs;t advantage
the powers that we po&longs;&longs;e&longs;s, and the not
going beyond them. Every thing in its element
is good, and in their proper &longs;phere all
natures and capacities are excellent. This
thought might be turned into a thou&longs;and
different &longs;hapes, and cloathed with various
expre&longs;&longs;ions; but after all, it comes to the
old proverb at la&longs;t, Ne &longs;utor ultra crepidam,
Let the cobler &longs;tick to his la&longs;t; a &longs;entiment
we are about more to illu&longs;trate in the
&longs;equel of this work.

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The &longs;econd reflection that ari&longs;es, is, the
&longs;implicity of the Captain; who was &longs;o unacquainted
with the world, as to imagine that
jockeys and men of the turf could be composed
by rea&longs;on and good &longs;en&longs;e; whereas
there are no people who are by education
of a le&longs;s philo&longs;ophic turn of mind. The
company of hor&longs;es is by no means favourable
to good ta&longs;te and genius. The rubbing
and currying them, but little enlarges the
faculties, or improves the mind; and even
riding, by which a man is carried &longs;wiftly
through the air, though it contributes to
health, yet &longs;tores the mind with few or no
ideas; and as men naturally con&longs;imilate
with their company, &longs;o it is ob&longs;ervable
that your jockeys are a cla&longs;s of people not
greatly removed from the &longs;agacity of a
good hor&longs;e. Hence mo&longs;t probably the
fable of the centaur, among the ancients;
by which they held out the moral of the
jockey and the hor&longs;e being one bea&longs;t.

A third reflection is, that which he
expre&longs;t; viz. the profe&longs;&longs;ional art of the surgeon
to make the mo&longs;t of the ca&longs;e, and the
technical terms u&longs;ed by him. I have to
declare, that it is with no attempt at wit,
that the terms are &longs;et down, or the art of
the &longs;urgeon hinted at; becau&longs;e it is &longs;o

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common place a thing to ridicule the peculiarities
of a profe&longs;&longs;ion, that it &longs;avours of
mean parts to indulge it. For a man of
real genius will never walk in the beaten
track, becau&longs;e his object is what is new
and uncommon. This &longs;urgeon does not
appear to have been a man of very great
ability; but the Captain was certainly
wrong in declining his pre&longs;criptions; for
the maxim is, Unicuique in arte, &longs;ua perito,
credendum e&longs;t; every one is to be tru&longs;ted
in his profe&longs;&longs;ion.

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