"Round-hooft, short-joynted, fetlocks shag and long,
Broad breast, full eyes, small head, and nostrils wide,
High crest, short ears, straight legs, and passing strong,
Thin mane, thick tail, broad buttock, tender hide."

"'Squire," said he, "that will do for a song, but it ain't no p'ints of
a good hos. Trotters nowadays go in all shapes, big heads and little
heads, big eyes and little eyes, short ears or long ears, thick tail and
no tail; so as they have sound legs, good l'in, good barrel, and good
stifle, and wind, 'squire, and speed well, they'll fetch a price. Now,
this animal is what I call a hos, 'squire; he's got the p'ints, he's
stylish, he's close-ribbed, a free goer, kind in harness--single or
double--a good feeder." I asked him if being a good feeder was a
desirable quality. He replied it was; "of course," said he, "if your hos
is off his feed, he ain't good for nothin'. But what's the use," he
added, "of me tellin' you the p'ints of a good hos? You're a hos man,
'squire: you know--" "It seems to me," said I, "there is something the
matter with that left eye." "No, _sir_" said he, and with that he pulled
down the horse's head, and, rapidly crooking his forefinger at the
suspected organ, said, "see thar--don't wink a bit." "But he should
wink," I replied. "Not onless his eye are weak," he said. To satisfy
myself, I asked the man to let me take the bridle. He did so, and as
soon as I took hold of it, the horse started off in a remarkable
retrograde movement, dragging me with him into my best bed of hybrid
roses. Finding we were trampling down all the best plants, that had cost
at auction from three-and-sixpence to seven shillings apiece, and that
the more I pulled, the more he backed, I finally let him have his own
way, and jammed him stern-foremost into our largest climbing rose that
had been all summer prickling itself, in order to look as much like a