1 94 MR. FARRANCE. 



has been mentioned in the last chapter as a confederate 

 with Mr. Parker in some of his horses. What Mr. 

 Farrance may have been as a boy I have no means 

 of ascertaining, and can only speak of him in his early 

 days, as I have heard him spoken of by others. But 

 certainly after he reached London and commenced 

 business in the public line, however much he may have 

 endeavoured ' to pass through the present state with 

 ease and safety,' by keeping to the mean, he failed to 

 do so, insomuch that he passed the most of his life 

 lethargically, and fell into the pitfall of slothfulness. 



Oral tradition says of him that, as a boy, he was 

 (rood-looking;, and well fitted for the situation which 

 he then filled, of page to the great politician, Sir 

 Robert Peel. That he filled the situation with credit, 

 we may infer from the fact that Sir Bobert so 

 materially assisted him in his later years. Mr. 

 Farrance used to say that he never knew anyone of 

 his own name except a pastiy-cook and confectioner, 

 living at that time at Charing Cross, to whom, how- 

 ever, he did not think he was in any way related. 

 He married Sir John Shelley's housekeeper. She 

 was much younger than her husband, ladylike in 

 appearance, and attractive in manners. She was 

 evidently, we may conclude, in the good graces of 

 her husband's master ; for when the pair took a very 

 large and expensive hotel in Belgrave Square, and 

 called it after their own name, it is said that Sir 

 Bobert found the money, £15,000, and always stayed 



