THE WHOLE SECRET REVEALED. 369 



hours or so pleasantly, and yet more agreeably make 

 the remainder pass away without weariness in some 

 convivial party, which breaks up at three o'clock 

 in the morning, when all seek in calmness the allotted 

 hour of repose. We hear of no dissipation, no cards 

 or dice, no night-brawlers disturbing the peace of 

 their neighbours, no licentious revelry, nor mixture 

 of the sexes at improper times or places ; no ribald 

 jesting, and, above all, no fighting over a misapplied 

 word or ambiguous sentence uttered in an amusing 

 strain of exuberant conviviality. 



If one proof were asked of me to show the obvious 

 intuitive knowledge and superior Avisdom of our 

 present race of riders, the following incident will 

 clinch the question. I have before mentioned that 

 trainers are often disappointed, and even dissatisfied 

 (though it is not politic to show it to their jockeys), 

 at the running of their horses in public. For this, 

 no reason can be assigned. All sorts of excuses have 

 been formed ; such as the want of skill on the part of 

 the jockey, though not substantiated — a difficult 

 thing at all times to do ; the state of the ground ; 

 the inequalities of the course ; or the unsuitable 

 distance the horse has had to run. But all to no 

 purpose, till a youthful rider, like another Alexander, 

 'cut the Gordian knot,' by saying, quite unoffensively 

 and without the least hesitation, to the trainer, an 

 old man : 



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