THE THISTLE DOWxN". 19 



Jack Horner ! And when the days of thy serving'-time 

 are over, 3^011 shall jump into a living- worth double that 

 of the parson of the parish, and end by having- a heavier 

 income-tax than the most famous Q.C. who ever worried 

 a witness or bullied a judge. The nobles of the. land 

 shall send in then* special retainers, humbly asldng* that 

 you will appear for them when you can. The anxious 

 telegram shall seek you out. The best of champagne and 

 the oldest of Havannahs shall court your taste ; and when 

 you g'o a courting* on your own account, you shall woo 

 the dark-eyed daug-hter of The Blue Drag-on, with arm- 

 lets of emeralds and pearls of price ! " Ah, all very fine, 

 sir," says little Jack Horner — though not without a no- 

 tion that it may be all very true, with time and luck to 

 help him. At present Jack gets ten pounds a year and a 

 suit of clothes, with three good meals a day, and, despite 

 his weight, a fair share of beef and beer. His one great 

 mission is to look after his horse, for he is rarely called 

 upon to do more. In the summer he is with him by day- 

 break, if he do not sleep at his heels, in a couch that 

 looks like a corn-bin, but which, with no ^^ double debt to 

 pay," unrols into a bed and nothing more. The attendant 

 sprite of Aristoph-anes sleeps over him ; for that great 

 horse might contrive to cast himself in his box, or the bad 

 fairy might try to come in through the keyhole, or some- 

 thing or other might occur that would need the ready 

 assistance of his body-guard. Dressing his horse lighth' 

 over, and feeding him, are amongst the first of Jack Hor- 

 ner's duties, to be followed immediately by the walking- 

 exercise — the way on to the Down, the gentle canter, the 

 smart gallop, or the long four-miler that has now gene- 

 rally superseded ^^ the sweat. " Horses are no longer 

 loaded with clothes and fagged and scraped, but they get 



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