THE TURF 65 



have everybody about him as clever as 

 himself; they must all know their business 

 thoroughly ; however, they must learn it 

 somewhere. I will venture to give you a 

 trial, but I must first inquire your character 

 of my good friends Woodcock and John- 

 stone. Come to-morrow morning at nine, 

 and you shall have an answer." It may 

 well be supposed I did not forget the 

 appointment, and a fortunate one I found 

 it, for I was accepted on trial, at four 

 pounds or guineas a year, with the usual 

 livery clothing/ 



It was in the service of John Watson 

 that Holcroft became a horseman, and the 

 exercise of his skill, in his contest with a 

 certain strapping dun horse, is very amus- 

 ingly told : 



'It was John Watson's general practice 

 to exercise his horses over the flat, and up 

 Cow-bridge hill; but the rule was not in- 

 variable. One wintry day he ordered us 

 up to the Bury hills. It mizzled a very 

 sharp sleet ; the wind became uncommonly 

 cutting, and Dun, being remarkable for a 

 tender skin, found the wind and sleet, which 

 blew directly up his nostrils, so very pain- 



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