"DEAR DOCTOR,--I enclose a cheque for £300 upon my banker in town; £200 for the horses, which are delightful creatures, and I thank you for obtaining them for us; and £100 for the last fee to Doctors!--by far the best; for I hope to be married in September. It is an ill wind that blows nobody good. "But in love, and wind, I remain, Dear Doctor, Your's obliged,--NICHOLAS SKINNER." "Doctor Gambado, Bread street, Cheapside, London." Love blows a blast, to conquer every man, Let him resist it,--long he never can; 'Twill conquer all, and in the end bring peace, Hurrah for love! true love can never cease! CHAPTER V. _How to ride a Horse on three Legs._ Fame never permits her votaries to rest, and once a man has gained a certain reputation for any thing, he is wise who can be the humblest under it, because he is conscious only of demerit. Should Fame desert him, he will never sink under it. He will say, "I had a great deal more than I deserved; let me be content." Wise man indeed! Doctor Gambado, however, found that Fame did not desert him nor his practice. He was the more sought after, the more personally-retired he would become. Bread-street is not now celebrated for the worthies it was an hundred years ago; but there are worthy men in it, and perhaps worthier than those an hundred years ago, though not so celebrated for _eccentricities_. Man's nature alters very materially under the impression of time. Men inveigh against fashion; but the most convenient fashion is that which is the simplest after all. Clerical habits alter; externally they go for a class, a profession, or degree. We hope that external feature will never be mistaken for internal; or the clergy would be black indeed. Quakerism used to be a badge of simplicity in dress and manners, till the self-possession of prosperity destroyed the equanimity of judgment; and men set them down for exactly their worth. But gently, my steed, gently; too long soliloquies generally make a man yawn. [Illustration] Doctor Gambado had to go from London to York, and to visit no less a person than one of the greatest ecclesiastical dignitaries of the land, as the following letter will show. "Precincts, York, October 10th, 1774. "SIR,--Doctor Greathead is desirous of consulting you, as speedily as possible; and if you have an eminent veterinary surgeon, who can accompany you, the Doctor will pay all expenses, as he has a favourite horse very ill. Travel post, if you please. I am sir, your humble servant, GEORGE GOTOBED, Hon. Sec. &c. &c." Characteristic of simplicity was the Doctor's letter, that very instant, to John Tattsall, written on a scrap and sent by his own servant. "JOHN,--Will you be ready to start for York in an hour?