THE WILLEY WHIPPER-IN. 123 



sportsmen. He was in fact, in many respects, what 

 Mr. Forester had made him : Nature supplied the 

 material, and Squire Forester did the rest. Tom 

 had the advantage of entering the Squire's service 

 when a youth. Like most boys of that period, he 

 had been thrown a good deal upon his own re- 

 sources, a state of things not unfavourable to a 

 development of self-reliance, and a degree of 

 humble heroism, such as made life wholesome. Tom 

 had no opportunities of obtaining a national- school 

 education, nor of carrying away the prize now 

 sometimes awarded to the best behaved lad in the 

 village. But in the unorganized school of common 

 intercourse, common suffering, and interest, was 

 developed a pluck and daring which led him to 

 perform a feat on the bare back of a crop-eared cob 

 that gave birth to the after events of his life. It 

 appears that he was apprenticed to a Mr. Adams, a 

 maltster, who had sent him to deliver malt at the 

 Hall. On his return he was seen by the Squire 

 trying his horse at a gate, and repeating the at- 

 tempt till he compelled him to leap it. It is said 

 that — 



*' He who excels in what we prize, 

 Appears a hero in our eyes." 



