TRAINERS AND JOCKEYS 53 



" You, Pierse ? Why, you were beat three lengths," was 

 the answer. 



" Oh," said Billy, with a polite bow, " thank ye, sir ; that 

 alters the case " ; and his manner was so comical that he 

 set both disputants laughing, and so ended the row. 



His whole reading was confined to the Bible and Adam 

 Smith's Wealth of Nations. He went through each 

 about thirty times, and in the winter would sit for hours 

 together poring over the abstruse subject of political 

 economy. 



Billy certainly knew how to make a bargain. When he 

 wanted new clothes for his stable-boys he would go up to 

 Manchester, give the cord merchants a few tips, and come 

 back with enough corduroy to last the stables a year. He 

 once dined and slept at the house of one of these merchants. 

 After he had gone to bed, the host heard sounds of distress 

 proceeding from his room. On going thither he found 

 Billy pacing up and down the room arrayed in a long 

 nightgown, and evidently in great distress. 



"Oh, sir," he said, "my wife's forgot to put me in a 

 nightcap, and I can't sleep without one." This want was 

 soon supplied. 



" These are very high beds of yours, sir," observed Billy ; 

 " I can't get in ; do give me a leg up." This was done 

 with as much solemnity as if the St Leger bell had been 

 ringing. 



After he had been tucked in, he said, in a very con- 

 fidential tone, " Sir, you've been very good to me to-day, 

 and I wish to make you some return, mind " — and placing 

 his fingers against his nose — " it goes no farther, but 

 Borodino is a racehorse — that's the straight tip. Good- 

 night," and the next moment his head was buried in the 

 pillow. 



Here is another story of Billy Pierse. Many years ago 

 a distinguished military officer was one of the stewards oi 

 the Doncaster races, and during his term of office had to 

 decide a dispute against Billy Pierse. " T'owd 'un," as 

 Billy was generally called, would never admit himself in 

 the wrong, and he was very indignant at the judgment. 



" Why, he don't know the difference between a horse-race 



