30 AUGUST 1902, Page 18

THE HUNGARIAN HORSE IN 1811.

[To THE EDITOR or THE "SPECTATOR."] Six,—This morning, turning over the pages of "The Absentee," by Maria Edgeworth, I found a passage so curiously apposite to a matter just now -very much talked about that I rubbed my eyes to make sure that I was not dreaming :— " A literary friend of the Count's had for some time been promised a lucrative situation under Government; but unfortu- nately he was a man of so much merit and ability that they could not find employment for him at home, and they gave him a com- mission, I should rather say, a contract, abroad for supplying the army with Hungarian horses. Now the gentleman had not the slightest skill in horseflesh; and, as Sir Terence is a complete jockey, the Count observed that he would be the best possible deputy for his literary friend. . . . . I do think the coalition will be well for both parties I left Sir Terence comfort- ably provided for."