78 JS'eivmarket. 



and blasphemy and blackguardism. Then, too, there are 

 the little stable-boys on the yearlings, at exercise, looking 

 like children on mad spiders. It was a treat to hear them 

 talk to their horses when restive, and to see the horses turn 

 round and laugh at them. I suppose it must have been a 

 " horse laugh." I have heard it hundreds of times stated as 

 a fact that the hardest thing in the world is to square the 

 little stable-boy who lives with his horse. An occasional 

 rascally trainer or jockey may be " got at," as Turf history 

 proves, but the horse and the boy are inseparable friends, 

 and I believe the story that the horse is the last friend in 

 the world whom the boy would sell. 



Their little fresh-coloured faces looked just like cherubims' 

 heads on a cathedral stall, though 1 fancy if they were to 

 sing with the seraphims the latter would be a little 

 astonished at some of their expressions, which, pai-rot-like, 

 they pick up in the stables. One young gentleman, who 

 mio-ht have weis'hed three stone or so, and who was 

 about forty-eight inches high, related to his companions an 

 anecdote about what he called the " off hind leg of a tough 

 goose " which they had on Michaelmas Day, and his 

 remarks on the deceased bird were more eccentric than 

 complimentary. If I was Fielding, and we were in the 

 days of George II., instead of Queen Victoria, I would 

 relate the story, but am afraid I must not put it in print. 

 But upon the whole they seemed a happy lot of little 

 fellows, who had the appearance of being kindly treated and 

 well looked after. They are doubtless as good as any other 

 lot of English boys, and their ringing laughter made very 

 pretty music in the clear autumn air. There was one 

 grand old gentleman on horseback who wore one of the old- 

 fashioned long coats, which was neither a great-coat nor a 

 surtout, but like a huntsman's coat of the last century, and 

 mahogany^tops and a loose white neckcloth, who was accom- 



