2. CHAP. II.
Containing some general Reflections.
THE first reflection that arises, is, the
good sense of the Captain; who was
unwilling to impose his horse for a racer;
not being qualified for the course. Because,
as an old lean beast, attempting a
trot he was respectable enough; but going
out of his nature, and affecting speed,
he would have been contemptible. The
great secret of preserving respect, is the
cultivating and shewing to the best advantage
the powers that we possess, and the not
going beyond them. Every thing in its element
is good, and in their proper sphere all
natures and capacities are excellent. This
thought might be turned into a thousand
different shapes, and cloathed with various
expressions; but after all, it comes to the
old proverb at last, Ne sutor ultra crepidam,
Let the cobler stick to his last; a sentiment
we are about more to illustrate in the
sequel of this work.
The second reflection that arises, is, the
simplicity of the Captain; who was so unacquainted
with the world, as to imagine that
jockeys and men of the turf could be composed
by reason and good sense; whereas
there are no people who are by education
of a less philosophic turn of mind. The
company of horses is by no means favourable
to good taste 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 swiftly
through the air, though it contributes to
health, yet stores the mind with few or no
ideas; and as men naturally consimilate
with their company, so it is observable
that your jockeys are a class of people not
greatly removed from the sagacity of a
good horse. Hence most probably the
fable of the centaur, among the ancients;
by which they held out the moral of the
jockey and the horse being one beast.
A third reflection is, that which he
exprest; viz. the professional art of the surgeon
to make the most of the case, and the
technical terms used by him. I have to
declare, that it is with no attempt at wit,
that the terms are set down, or the art of
the surgeon hinted at; because it is so
common place a thing to ridicule the peculiarities
of a profession, that it savours of
mean parts to indulge it. For a man of
real genius will never walk in the beaten
track, because his object is what is new
and uncommon. This surgeon does not
appear to have been a man of very great
ability; but the Captain was certainly
wrong in declining his prescriptions; for
the maxim is,
Unicuique in arte, sua perito,
credendum est; every one is to be trusted
in his profession.
