A philosophical and practical treatise on horses, and on the moral duties of man towards the brute creation / By John Lawrence.

  • Lawrence, John, 1753-1839.
Date:
1796-1798
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A philosophical and practical treatise on horses, and on the moral duties of man towards the brute creation / By John Lawrence. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    24/412 (page 10)
    of fapient grooms, the fiddle of old wives, and the glory of bookfellers. After having pain¬ fully laboured through his works, it remains with me a doubt, whether this famous writer ever poflelfed any real knowledge of the horfe, or of the art veterinary, from his own praftice and experience. He was, in my opinion, nothing better than a mere vulgar and illiterate com¬ piler; and his works (fome few things excepted) are fluffed with all the execrable trafli that had ever been invented by any writer, or praftifed by any farrier, ancient or modern, on the fub- jedl of horfes. It is neceffary, however, that we do juflice to the charaHer of Gervafe Alarkham; he certainly pofTeffed a fpecies of merit which has not defcended to all his fuc- ceffbrs, the copiefls and plagiarifls; he very honeflly gives the names of thofe authors from whom he derives his knowledge. Markham s works were printed and reprint¬ ed, to the twentieth, and for aught I know, to the fortieth edition. At leafl, the celebrated name of Gervafe Markham was made ufe of by the bookfellers to a vafl number of compi¬ lations, not only upon the fubjeft of Horfes, but of hufbandry, gardening, and houfe- wifery. The mifchiefs which have been occafioned by * the extenfive circulation of this man’s books, are incalculable. They brought almofi