GROOMS. 329 



the powers of enjoyment diminish. The sicklier the neighborhood, the 

 more criminal are its inhabitants. Among a people emaciated by dis- 

 ease, the exemplification of virtue is an exception, as witness the fearful 

 sins which invariably accompany the visitation of devastating epidemics. 



When in town, the one groom's duties necessitate he should be up 

 before the family have opened their eyes; his functions are* nearly dis- 

 charged when master's dinner table has been cleared. The morning he 

 is supposed to occupy by attending to the horse. The evening he is 

 imagined to pass in the bosom of his family, or, if single, in solitude ; 

 but always in his home over the stable. Before his employer's break- 

 fast, and subsequently to the " Guv'nor's " evening repast, the man is, 

 by an amiable fiction, conjectured to be laudably engaged ; although, at 

 such times, a sickly being and a disordered mind is freed from the re- 

 straint of authority. 



The homes of too many London stable-men are such abodes as no life 

 should reside in. The place may Tdc crowded with the elements of hap- 

 piness: in it may exist wife and children; but to it can be attached none 

 of those characteristics which should hallow domesticity. A noxious 

 vapor at all times prevails ; this undermines the health, and gradually 

 saps the soul's integrity. The impurity of the atmosphere induces a 

 languor which almost compels a resort to stimulants. The man's even- 

 ings are his leisure hours ; but what choice is there to him between the 

 blazing fire, with the cheerful society of the tap-room, and the inadequacy 

 of accommodation or the "fractiousness" of debility, that are the chief 

 attractions of the room which is over the stable ? 



A genteel groom's wages range from one pound one to one pound ten 

 shillings per week, together with outside clothes and an unwholesome 

 lodging. The better class give the higher sum ; but the vast majority 

 of London grooms do not receive much more than the first amount. 

 How, then, on so small a wage, can the men afford to visit so frequently 

 the bar round the comer ? In the first plaf e, job masters, or men who 

 let out carriage horses, retain persons whose duty it is to call round at 

 the stable and see how the creatures are progressing. These men spend 

 large sums in "treating" grooms; where an animal of a known delicate 

 constitution is placed, their calls are proportionately numerous, and their 

 "tips" are uniformly liberal. 



A tradesman cannot look into a stable without inviting the presiding 

 ruler of the place to take a "parting cup." There is no class of mascu- 

 line servants who levy "black mail "so universally and so unmercifully 

 as they of the London mews. The groom, therefore, does not pay for 

 half of the much he swallows ; and to liquidate his disbursements, he 

 collects an ample revenue. Five per cent., over and above the perpetual 



