98 RACING. 



neighbouring farmers, and who was looked up to in his market 

 town as vir sapientia, if not pietate, gravis. Almost unknown 

 to him were the ' lights of London,' and he even regarded 

 Newmarket with some suspicion and dislike, on account of its 

 cosmopolitan tendencies — * flash notions ' he would have called 

 them. 



Rising early, and early taking rest, save in the matter of 

 polygamy he lived in true patriarchal fashion ; faring well, and 

 ruling his lads, and often his entire household, with a rod of 

 remarkably strong and pliant ash. Devoted to the animals 

 under his care, their preparations were of singular severity, and 

 external appearances never belied his assertion that a horse 

 ' was wound up and thoroughly clean inside.' A good judge 

 of the raw material, and his own 'vet,' his pharmacopoeia and 

 practice were alike of the heroic order. 



Often a devout and regular church-goer, his conversation 

 was garnished with expletives of home manufacture which 

 suggested rather than reached the profane. His literary ac- 

 quirements and tastes were few and simple. He could read 

 and write, and knew enough of arithmetic to be able, with assis- 

 tance, to keep his accounts. N.B. — His charge for training was 

 about 355. a week per horse. His library consisted of some 

 few volumes of sermons and theology, which he did not, and 

 of a Bible and ' White's Farriery,' which he did, peruse. A 

 local newspaper, the ' Racing Calendar,' and ' Bell's Life ' (as 

 soon as it came into existence) sufficed for the remainder of 

 his mental sustenance. 



For art he cared but little — his walls nevertheless being 

 usually adorned with portraits of himself and wife, chiefly 

 remarkable for a glossiness of hair, brilliancy of complexion, 

 and general want of resemblance, which reflected infinite credit 

 on the im.agination of the local artist ; engravings, or sketches 

 in chalk, of county and borough members, if they were racing 

 men ; perhaps a coaching picture or two, and, dearer to him 

 than all, several of those wonderful caricatures in oil of cele- 

 brated Cup horses, which, judging from the stiffness of their 



