1830.] The Man with the White Horse. 169 



and, indeed, the only point of resemblance between the two was, that 

 as one horse had carried off the original proprietor, another animal of 

 the same species, as if anxious to make restitution, had replaced him by 

 trotting up with the present, and throwing him down in his stead : an 

 instance of honest sagacity not to be surpassed in the Percy Anecdotes. 

 The wealthy attorney cast the slough of his profession, and soared into 

 the upper regions of society as a magistrate and a sportsman; a nume- 

 rous family grew up around him, and he embarked, with every prospect 

 of success, in various thriving speculations; but, like death in the Apo- 

 calypse, the rider on the pale horse followed his footsteps, and threw his 

 shadow over the fate and fortunes of him and his. Nothing that he 

 touched throve with him : the very speculations by which others made 

 wealth failed in his hands, and plunged him into embarrassments ; the 

 paths by which others advanced to eminence led him to ruin ; his pro- 

 perty melted away from him like snow from a hill side ; he returned to 

 his profession, he practised every art and mystery of attorney ism to 

 retrieve his fortunes all was in vain. His family I knew them well 

 according as they grew up they were provided for, as the phrase goes, 

 in marriage woe to the house into which they entered woe to the man 

 who clasped hands with one of the race. The eldest son was said to 

 resemble his grandfather the steward more than any of the rest, and he 

 rather piqued himself upon imitating his stewardlike habits of accuracy 

 in keeping minute accounts and so forth ; at all events, he certainly 

 inherited the largest portion of the cold villainy of his character, and, if 

 old saws are to be believed, of the blasting influence of his destiny. 

 After ruining the once happy and prosperous family into which he mar- 

 ried, by involving them in an inextricable labyrinth of law, after embez- 

 zling enough of their property to have secured a handsome indepen- 

 dence, poverty and disease have at last overtaken him together, and he 

 is now, in middle age, a conscience-stricken valetudinarian, of whom 

 you would say, in spite of yourself, as you passed him in the street, 

 " there goes a doomed man." 



The daughters kind, domestic, gentle girls they were each after 

 each they married, as I have said, and under favourable auspices, as one 

 would think, but as the youthful establishment of each grew up, it 

 seemed as if a germ of misfortune, a principle of decay was implanted 

 in their very nature, like a canker in a young tree nothing prospered 

 with them all went wrong. 



I dare say by this time you think me a superstitious fool, and, to tell 

 you the truth, I care very little whether you do or not. I know very 

 well that all tellers of ghost stories, and such like, are listened to in this 

 workday world rather incredulously ; but remember that I have not 

 asked you to assent to the popular explanation of the strange circum- 

 stances I have related : and probably, in your opinion, the dishonesty 

 and treachery of father and son account sufficiently, in the ordinary 

 course of events, for the downfall of all who had the misfortune of being 

 connected with them, without requiring the aid of supernatural inter- 

 ference. There are the facts, I can vouch for them, and you are welcome 

 to collate and explain them as you think fit : all I can tell you is, that 

 never was coincidence more literal than that between the prediction and 

 the subsequent facts ; misfortune and ill luck have trod upon the heels 

 of the descendants of the unjust steward, and all who were unhappy 

 enough to form any alliance with them, down to this very hour ; the 

 M. M. New Series. VOL. IX. No. 50. Z 



