THE TURF. 
exercise-riding boys in the town ; until all his eques- 
trian hopes were ruined by " idling away his time in 
reading," as he was emphatically told by his master ; 
by his spelling a word of six syllables, to the surprise 
of his drunken schoolmaster ; by his being detected in 
studying Arnold's " Psalmody," under the guidance of 
the journeyman leather-breeches maker ; and, lastly, in 
casting up figures on the stable-doors with a nail, from 
which the other boys, and the old housekeeper to boot, 
augured his very soon running mad. 
Although, to use his own words, Holcroft scarcely 
saw a biped at Newmarket in whom he could find any- 
thing to admire, and despised his companions for the 
grossness of all their ideas, he had no reason to 
complain of his treatment by the several masters whom 
he served, and especially by Mr. Woodcock. 
" He discovered a little too late, that the dark-grey 
filly and I could not be trusted safely together. But 
though he turned me away, he did not desert me. He 
recommended me to the service of a little deformed 
groom, remarkably long in the fork, I think by the 
name of Johnstone, who was esteemed an excellent 
rider, and had a string of no less than thirteen famous 
horses, the property of the Duke of Grafton, under his 
care. This was acknowledged to be a service of great re- 
pute ; but the shrewd little groom soon discovered that I 
had all my trade to learn, and I was again dismissed." 
After bewailing his misfortune of being out of place, 
and so far from home in forma pauperis, he thus proceeds : 
159 
