176 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 



their scliool, are hustled together on water, in water, 

 under water, and out of water, until, Avhen the door of 

 their scrap-mill is opened — although their minds and 

 bodies are as dissimilar as ever — they all turn out 

 polished gentlemen, prepared to encounter those hard- 

 ships, dangers, vicissitudes, difficulties, and, above all, 

 base temptations in life, which high-bred principles are so 

 especially well adapted to resist. 



For eleven years Tom Smith remained at this school, 

 where he acquired a taste for classical literature, which 

 characterised him through life. Pope, Shakspeare, and 

 Horace, from which he used to quote long passages, were 

 his favourite authors; he could also, without pressure, 

 spout out the whole of the Epistle of Eloisa to Abelard. 

 But what reigned at the back of his head and in the 

 citadel of his heart was an ardent love for athletic exer- 

 cises of any description, especially for cricket and boating. 

 He was also, throughout his whole life, affectionately 

 attached to fighting; and Etonians, old and young, to 

 this day, record, as one of the severest contests in the his- 

 tory of youthful pugilism, the desperate battle he fought 

 with Jack Musters, a kindred spirit, of whom it has 

 been said that he could do seven things — namely, ride, 

 fence, fight, swim, shoot, play at cricket and at tennis — 

 as well as any man in Europe. His pugilistic propen- 

 sity, which appeared so early, was conspicuous through- 



