108 THE LIFE OF A EACEIIOHSE. 



rovv'ful changes in others as myself. The young have become 

 old. Despair has trailed on the footsteps of hope ; poverty on 

 wealth ; misery on happiness ; death on ruin. With us, as 

 "with our masters, things are ever on the change. Who but 

 those who know little of the world can feel their position safe, 

 ay, even for an hour ? While the night succeeds the day, so will 

 sadness gather around joy. While the waters flow and ebb, so 

 will abundance give jolace to want. While hearts continue to 

 beat, some among us may laugh ; but many more must weep. 



There were but few more do^vnward steps for me in 

 the ladder of life, and after the additional mortification to 

 Jemmy Clever and Co. in losing the Ladies' Plate at Leicestei*, 

 little was the let, check, or stop in the descent. Resolved to 

 carry out his pre-determined decision that I should not have an 

 opportunity of endangering more of the capital of the firm, my 

 ostensible owner, " the proprietor of a third," had me offered for 

 public competition immediately after the race, and at a very small 

 sum compared with that which he gave, I again changed masters, 

 pvud would that I could add the change was for the better. 



Samuel Hitchem combined the occupations of horse-dealing, 

 betting, bill-discounting, billiard-playing, selling wine on com- 

 mission, and was never known to lose at blind hookey, crib- 

 bage, or all-fours, to which games he appeared singularly 

 attached. Samuel Hitchem considered himself a " swell cove 

 about town," and was acknowledged by his numerous cu'cle of 

 acquaintance to be fully qualified for the distinction. In ex- 

 change for a stamped receipt, specifying the exact sum for which 

 I Vv^as purchased, Samuel Hitchem took legal possession of me, 

 with a halter thrown in, and looked as if he had elevated himself 

 in the social scale by — as he called the completion of the busi- 

 ness — " buying a bit of blood." I can plainly see the *' swell 

 cove" now, with a red, ginger complexion, colourless eyes, and a 

 set of teeth as white and even as a shark's. Around his neck 

 was a white cravat, so stifi* and creaseless, that it bore the ap- 

 pearance of having been starched and ironed in its assigned 

 position, and the rest of his costume might have left doubts in 

 the mind of an observing stranger whether it partook more of 



