186 THE POST AND THE PADDOCK. 



second from the Warwickshire, and the third from the 

 Pytchley. However, the running-mantle of Paddy 

 has not been moth-eaten, as these three can run 

 their fifty miles in a day yet, with hounds, and have 

 made something handsome by opening gates, taking 

 lame hounds home, and doing sundry other hunting 

 field offices. " Billy Priest " has never worn shoes 

 since his childhood ; and if he were to come into a 

 fortune to-morrow, on condition that he would wear 

 them, it is most doubtful whether he would consent 

 to do so. There is such a strange fascination about 

 the life, that it is averred of " Dumbie" (whose power 

 of pantomime and picking out winners is something 

 quite miraculous) that a good sum of money has been 

 left him, but that nothing can induce him to look 

 after it. "Jemmy from Town" died in London 

 lately, and we do not know that " Farem Kiddy," 

 "Peter Holt," "Black Stock," and "Old Billy," 

 have any peculiar traits about them. The latter is 

 card-seller extraordinary to Lords Exeter and Jersey, 

 and has waylaid them and served them regularly ever 

 since they were quite young turfites. " Jemmy and 

 Mary Leicester," and "Charles and Eliza Crow," 

 are also well-known characters ; but " Black Jemmy 5 ' 

 rather fell into the back ground when he had an 

 accident to his leg, and though he is now happily 

 convalescent, he is no longer the ubiquitous merry 

 African he was in his green cutaway and tartan-tie 

 days. Jemmy's one consuming passion has long been 

 his love jfor Lord Eglinton's stud, the dispersion of 

 which he took sorely to heart. It is, in fact, out of a 

 spirit of pure devotion to Scotland and her Earl, that 

 this sporting exile has of late years enveloped him- 

 self in a grey plaid. Whenever his Lordship had a 

 Derby favourite, he professed to put his pot on him 

 throughout the entire winter, and gracefully pre- 

 ceded him to the place of starting; and what is more, 

 if he was beaten, Jemmy never forsook him. When 



