CHAPTER XII. 



MR. FABBANCE. 



Slothfulness not the happy mean — Origin and marriage — 

 Farrance's Hotel — Patronage of SirRobert Peel — Custom of an 

 afternoon — Attention to personal appearance- -His early racing ; 

 my own start — Horses well sold — Maley at Shrewsbury Steeple- 

 chase ; speed and heavy ground — Partnership with Mr. Parker ; 

 successes not his own — Suspicious conduct and separation — 

 Mysterious loss of fortune — A wretched end — Anecdotes — 

 ' The Tally-Ho ' without a coachman — How a feather-bed may 

 be lost — Mr. Wagstaff's clock — Parting with a suit of clothes 

 — Alderman Cubitt's watch. 



' Among many parallels which men of imagination 

 have drawn between the natural and moral state of 

 the world, it has been observed that happiness, as 

 well as virtue, consists in mediocrity ; that to avoid 

 every extreme is necessary, even to him who has no 

 other care than to pass through the present state with 

 ease and safety, and that the middle part is the road 

 of security, on either side of which are not onlv the 

 pitfalls of vice, but the precipices of ruin.' 



This pleasant, wholesome, and truthful reflection 

 comes irresistibly to my mind when I look back upon 

 my acquaintanceship with Mr. Farrance, whose name 



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