222 TRAINERS WITHOUT TRAINING 



farm in bed, which accounted for his not being seen till 

 late in the day; and, as a natural consequence, shortly 

 after was not seen at all. But I never before heard of a 

 man who, though gifted with the best of abilities, could 

 train horses from a hayloft. Yet this surprising feat of 

 ingenuity, I am credibly informed, was successfully ac- 

 complished by Mr. Parr to his own satisfaction, at 

 least. George Hall was his faithful attendant on these 

 occasions, for I fear they were not singular, and would 

 receive his instructions, and see them carried out to the 

 very letter. At all events, he knew his master's wants a 

 great deal better than did the many suspicious-looking 

 gentlemen who so often wished to see him, and so 

 tenderly inquired after his health. But, in training under 

 these circumstances, we can perhaps understand how Mr. 

 Parr mistook Fernhill for a plater, and sold him and 

 some others, with his house and stables, for half the 

 value of the one horse. Fernhill, the next year, won the 

 Northamptonshire Stakes and the Metropolitan. Isoline, 

 parted with under similar circumstances, won the Good- 

 wood Cup and other races after he sold her. 



When the new law of liquidation came into force, Mr. 

 Parr had no longer the need to enlist the services of the 

 faithful George, or lie perdu in a hayloft. He could then 

 give a gracious welcome to all comers who had kindly 

 done him a service ; and though unable to settle their 

 little requirements at the moment, could assure them that 

 he had another good horse with which to recoup him his 

 losses, and enable him to settle up everything with 

 liberality. For, naturally, he infinitely preferred liberty to 

 confinement, and his meals in his dining-room rather than 

 in the loft. It must be said of him that, alternating from 

 good to bad fortune in quick succession to-day rich, to- 

 morrow moneyless he bore his hard fate with admirable 



