habits could be expected to seat himself.
My friend replied that, however appropriate
my metaphor might be as applied to race-
horses in general, it was singularly unsuitable
as applied to the particular horse which he
proposed to give me. From a foal upwards
this remarkable animal had been the idlest
and most sluggish of his race. Whatever
capacities for speed he might possess he had
kept so strictly to himself, that no amount
of training had ever brought them out. He
had been found hopelessly slow as a racer,
and hopelessly lazy as a hunter, and was fit
for nothing but a quiet, easy life of it with an
old gentleman or an invalid. When I heard
this account of the horse, I don't mind
confessing that my heart warmed to him.
Visions of Thomas Idle ambling serenely on
the back of a steed as lazy as himself,
presenting to a restless world the soothing and
composite spectacle of a kind of sluggardly
Centaur, too peaceable in his habits to alarm
anybody, swam attractively before my eyes.
I went to look at the horse in the stable.
Nice fellow! he was fast asleep with a kitten
on his back. I saw him taken out for an airing
by the groom. If he had had trousers on his
legs I should not have known them from my
own, so deliberately were they lifted up, so
gently were they put down, so slowly did
they get over the ground. From that moment
I gratefully accepted my friend's offer. I went
home; the horse followed me—by a slow
train. Oh, Francis, how devoutly I believed
in that horse! how carefully I looked after
all his little comforts! I had never gone the
length of hiring a man-servant to wait on
myself; but I went to the expense of hiring
one to wait upon him. If I thought a little
of myself when I bought the softest saddle
that could be had for money, I thought also
of my horse. When the man at the shop
afterwards offered me spurs and a whip, I
turned from him with horror. When I
sallied out for my first ride, I went purposely
unarmed with the means of hurrying my
steed. He proceeded at his own pace every
step of the way; and when he stopped, at
last, and blew out both his sides with a heavy
sigh, and turned his sleepy head and looked
behind him, I took him home again, as I
might take home an artless child who said to
me, "If you please, sir, I am tired." For a
week this complete harmony between me and
my horse lasted undisturbed. At the end of
that time, when he had made quite sure of
my friendly confidence in his laziness, when
he had thoroughly acquainted himself with
all the little weaknesses of my seat (and
their name is Legion), the smouldering
treachery and ingratitude of the equine
nature blazed out in an instant. Without
the slightest provocation from me, with
nothing passing him at the time but a pony-
chaise driven by an old lady, he started in
one instant from a state of sluggish depression
to a state of frantic high spirits. He
kicked, he plunged, he shied, he pranced, he
capered fearfully. I sat on him as long as I
could, and when I could sit no longer, I fell
off. No, Francis! this is not a circumstance
to be laughed at, but to be wept over. What
would be said of a Man who had requited
my kindness in that way? Range over all
the rest of the animal creation, and where
will you find me an instance of treachery so
black as this? The cow that kicks down the
milking-pail may have some reason for it;
she may think herself taxed too heavily to
contribute to the dilution of human tea and
the greasing of human bread. The tiger
who springs out on me unawares has the
excuse of being hungry at the time, to say
nothing of the further justification of being a
total stranger to me. The very flea who
surprises me in my sleep may defend his act of
assassination on the ground that I, in my
turn, am always ready to murder him when
I am awake. I defy the whole body of
Natural Historians to move me, logically, off
the ground that I have taken in regard to
the horse. Receive back your hat, Brother
Francis, and go to the chemist's, if you
please; for I have now done. Ask me to take
anything you like, except an interest in the
Doncaster races. Ask me to look at
anything you like, except an assemblage of
people all animated by feelings of a friendly
and admiring nature towards the horse.
You are a remarkably well-informed man,
and you have heard of hermits. Look upon
me as a member of that ancient fraternity,
and you will sensibly add to the many obligations
which Thomas Idle is proud to owe to
Francis Goodchild."

Here, fatigued by the effort of excessive
talking, disputatious Thomas waved one
hand languidly, laid his head back on the
sofa-pillow, and calmly closed his eyes.

At a later period, Mr. Goodchild
assailed his travelling companion boldly
from the impregnable fortress of common
sense. But Thomas, though tamed in
body by drastic discipline, was still as
mentally unapproachable as ever on the subject
of his favourite delusion.

The view from the window after Saturday's
breakfast is altogether changed. The tradesmen's
families have all come back again. The
serious stationer's young woman of all work
is shaking a duster out of the window of the
combination breakfast-room; a child is playing
with a doll, where Mr. Thurtell's hair
was brushed; a sanitary scrubbing is in
progress on the spot where Mr. Palmer's braces
were put on. No signs of the Races are in
the streets, but the tramps and the tumble-
down carts and trucks laden with drinking-
forms and tables and remnants of booths, that
are making their way out of the town as fast
as they can. The Angel, which has been
cleared for action all the week, already begins
restoring every neat and comfortable article