266 MR. SWINDELL. 



the instance at Goodwood, the utterance of these 

 idiotic words shook to the foundation the small 

 faith that Swindell had in his little trainer's judg- 

 ment as to the condition of his own or anyone else's 

 horses. 



One of his marked peculiarities was the fondness 

 he had for the opinion of ' touts.' Many of the^e 

 gentry would call upon him daily, or rather nightly ; 

 and though in the midst of dinner, he would leave it 

 to learn what they had to say. with as much alacrity 

 as he would to attend a lord or a duke. After hearing 

 what one man might have to tell him, he would return 

 to the table, only to be disturbed by two or three 

 more on the same errand before he had finished the 

 meal. On these occasions he would expect to be 

 told of some extraordinary trial that had come off, or 

 was about to take place ; the knocking out of the 

 favourite, or the introduction of a new one. To all 

 he listened eagerly ; though I don't presume to say 

 he often or ever acted on information received from 

 such sources. He was far too clever for that. But, 

 as he used to say, whilst cracking his sides with 

 laughter, ' he liked to hear what the vagabonds had 

 to say, and that the amusement was worth paying 

 for.' * 



Hew^as capital company. Many of his expressions 

 were extremely witty, and his stories, if somewhat 

 ancient, were told with a drollery that, to use his 

 own term, ' was hard to beat.' He was certainly 



