JOCKEYS. 307 



music, and fair dramatic ability ; and a morning 

 spent on Newmarket Heath, not to speak of 

 Kingsclere, Danebury, Malton, Lambourne, Stan- 

 ton, Manton, and other much-frequented train- 

 ing grounds, shows that riding awkward horses 

 is an art in which innumerable lads display 

 considerable proficiency. Yet, though many of 

 these lads have their chances, the top of the 

 tree is a position seldom approached, much 

 more seldom attained, and, with hundreds of 

 dihgent aspirants to fame, the popular jockeys 

 of the day scarcely exceed half a dozen. That 

 there '' must be something in " the successful 

 rider of races becomes therefore apparent, and a 

 glance at incidents in the careers of jockeys, 

 past and present, may help to show what that 

 something is. 



According to " The Druid," the history of 

 jockeys began with John Singleton, who was 

 born in 1715, and hired himself out to train and 

 ride for the small wage of liberty to sleep in the 

 stable and such food as he could get — a contrast 

 indeed to his brethren of the present day, some 

 of whom own strings of racehorses, while most 

 of them live luxuriously (if only the tyrant 

 weight wiU admit), and put by fortunes, if they 

 care to save, amounting in one instance, unless 

 popular rumour errs, to over £100,000 — a hand- 



