io8 The Pytchlcy Flunt, Past and Present, [chap. m. 



soon distracted his attention from those Christian lessons 

 which, were ill-adapted to a weakly constitution. From 

 the following incident it would seem that the worthy 

 tutor of poor Matty was quite equal to a " plant/^ and 

 by no means lived the " nescia fallere vita.'' '' I had 

 a queer go near here one day when I was with Mat 

 Milton. I had three horses out, all bays^ and so like, 

 you couldn't tell the three asunder. Two of 'em were 

 placed for me. The first horse stood still with me going 

 through those sheep-pens on the right yonder. The 

 second was close by, and then I tires it. Two farmers, 

 John Parker and Jack Perkins, them were two owdacious 

 boys at that time of day — had been riding against me 

 like fury, and never left me. I gets on to my third horse 

 and rides him to the end of the run. The swells didn't 

 know but what it was the same horse I had been riding 

 all the time, and Mat sold him for three hundred guineas : 

 he wasn't worth one hundred. He popped it on stiff; 

 but the gentlemen then would just as soon give three 

 hundred or two hundred as one. Blame me ! the more 

 you asked them the better they liked it." 



In contravention of the prevailing idea, Christian did 

 not look upon the "confidential mount" as an especially 

 safe one. *' Gentlemen," he used to saj^, " gets falls very 

 bad ; you see they're generally on old horses, and the 

 old 'uns fall like a clot if they get into difficulties. Blame 

 me ! they won't try to get out ; they haven't the 

 animation of a young horse. Those young 'uns will try 

 to struggle themselves right ; and they'll not touch you 

 if they can help it. I'll be bound I'd be safer riding 

 twenty young horses than one old one." He also would 

 declaim acrainst what are well known in the horse-world 



