Bibliothèque mondiale du cheval

« The title of this work should pretty well explain its nature. "Sirloin" speaks with ponderous emphasis for itself, and "Saddle" has a triple bearing on horses, sheep, and pigs. It is, in fact, simply the record of what I have seen and heard during the last eleven years in the course of my summer rambles from Cumberland to Cornwall. My business among the leading breeders was in connexion with The Herds and Flocks of Great Britain for The Mark Lane Express, and sundry Prize Essays in The Royal Agricultural Society s Journal, the main points of which are briefly reproduced. A large share of attention has been given to coursing; but racing and foxhunting have been passed somewhat lightly over, as I have already devoted three books to them.
Looking back on the friendships of the last eighteen years, I remember sadly that hardly three of the older generation with whom I then began to take counsel as to "the brave days of old" are left among the living. To have known them, and to have in a measure travelled over their minds, is no slight pleasure now that I can have no more "quiet evenings," listening to and noting down their experiences.
In compiling this book I have endeavoured to relieve the general reader by throwing mere matters of flock and herd detail into the notes, I could do no more than touch on what appear to be leading points in a county, and as these matters are appreciated differently by different minds, I shall no doubt be found guilty of many dreadful acts of omission. It is, however, a comfort to think that one enthusiastic purveyor, who painted "Saddle and Sirloin" over his sign as soon as the title was announced, and has amused himself ever since by listening to the comments of the passers-by, is bound to stand by me and my selection for better for worse; and I trust that those who have not committed themselves after this fashion may not find much to condemn. » Présentation de l’éditeur (1870)