Mr. Kir by and the Foreigners. 73 



he stood ragged and forlorn from the Welsh hills, and 

 tied to the rails in Leicester market. His new owner, 

 who was no feather-weight, little thought what " a 

 proud sea" he was bestriding, till he suddenly took 

 the bit in his teeth, when he heard the music of the 

 Atherstone near Hinckley, and carried him over the 

 hills and far away from his patients to Loughboro* I 

 However, a thorough-bred chestnut was made, some 

 forty years ago, the scapegoat for all the troubles 

 which the temper of his race has inflicted on men. 

 His master was an eccentric squire, whose ire had 

 been specially excited against the horse for not 

 winning a race in which he had started dead lame. 

 After a formal trial, the poor wretch was sentenced to 

 seven years' transportation, which was subsequently 

 altered to imprisonment for life. He was thrust into 

 a loose box, and kept in perpetual darkness ; no 

 straw was given him, his corn was interdicted, and 

 just enough hay and water to keep life and body 

 together was handed to him through an aperture. 

 No one cared or dared to interfere, and not until the 

 old man died was the door opened and his victim 

 allowed to wade forth, after fifteen months, into the 

 light of day. 



