1872, anonymous, “Jingling Geordie” in All the Year Round, Christmas 1872, p. 19, “I hear this mare of yours is a clipper; but I shall see what metal she has in her before an hour’s over.” “I tell you the truth, man. It is hard to part with her. My girl, Lizzie, is fond of her, and she is fond of Lizzie, and I allow I’d sooner you’d take all the paddockful than her.”
Source: wiktionary