I 3 6 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



annum. This also was effected in London, without 

 running into debt, and with always a good coat to 

 his back. To explain this seeming impossibility, it 

 should be observed that after the expiration of the 

 office hours Mr. Osbaldestone acted as an accountant 

 for the butchers of Clare Market, who paid him in offal, 

 the choicest morsels of which he selected for himself 

 and family, and with the rest he fed his hounds, which 

 were kept in the garret. His horses were lodged in 

 the cellar, and fed on grains from a neighbouring 

 brewhouse, and on damaged corn with which he was 

 supplied by a corn-chandler, whose books he kept in 

 order. In the season he hunted, and by giving a 

 hare now and then to the farmers over whose grounds 

 he sported, he secured their good-will ; and several 

 gentlemen, struck by the extraordinary economy of 

 his arrangements, winked at his going over their 

 manors. He was the younger son of a gentleman 

 of good family but small fortune in the north of 

 England, and Laving imprudently married one of his 

 father's servants, was turned out of doors with no 

 other fortune than a hound big with pup, whose off- 

 spring from that time became a source of amusement 

 to him.' 1 



Of hunt servants known to fame, the following 

 anecdotes are recorded : 



' Bob Williams was whipper-in to the Duke of 



1 Elaine's Encyclopedia of Rural Sports. 



