46 NEWMARKET EARLY IN THE CENTURY. 



Bryant and a knot of expectant friends were 

 eagerly awaiting his arrival. 



William ArnuU, who was one of the greatest 

 favourites ever known in the jockey- world at 

 Newmarket, or elsewhere, was much afflicted with 

 gout, which caused him to be of a very irritable 

 temper, especially when he was wasting hard. 

 One day, shortly after he had been appointed 

 overseer of the poor, he was riding off the Heath 

 in the company of some gentlemen who were his 

 employers. His temper was in a more than or- 

 dinarily crusty condition, and some of the practi- 

 cal jokers, who were his habitual tormentors, saw 

 that he was in a fit state to be experimented 

 upon. Accordingly they assembled opposite " The 

 Rooms," and told a tramp, who had been soliciting 

 alms, to wait there until "that gentleman" (at 

 whom they pointed) " came by, as he was very 

 kind-hearted, and, being overseer, in a position to 

 give jobs to needy men." Thus encouraged, the 

 poor man hobbled up to Arnull's horse's side and 

 pleaded very earnestly for relief, stating that he 

 had had nothing to eat for a long time. " Noth- 

 ing to eat ! " exclaimed Bill ; " why, I'll bet a 

 crown you have had something to eat since I 

 have, or you wouldn't look as well as you do." 



Despite the practical jokes to which he was 

 continually exposed, no man in Newmarket was 

 more respected than Bill Arnull. With perfect 

 truth it might have been said of him, as it was 



