He had served as ostler at a small inn at Hounslow, much frequented by highway men.

On reaching Carlisle, I enquired of the ostler in a stable if he knew of any one who wished to hire a house servant or coachman.

Shortly after the introduction of the New Weights and Measures, an innkeeper in a market-town, not far from Sudbury, in Suffolk, sent his ostler to a customer with a quantity of liquor, which he delivered with the following words:"Marstur bid me tell ye Sar, as how 'tis the New Infarnal Measure.

Then go and finish your breakfast, and when you have finished your breakfast, when you have called for the newspaper, go and water your horse, letting him have about one pailful; then give him another feed of corn, and enter into discourse with the ostler about bull-baiting, the prime minister, and the like; and when your horse has once more taken the shine out of his corn, go back to your room and your newspaper.

Squire Mountmeadow then, arranging his countenance, announced that the bench was prepared, and mine host was instructed forthwith to summon the constable and his charge, together with Peter and the ostler as witnesses.

None of the ostlers of the greasy stables, in which the locomotives are housed, ever call him Dobbin, or Old Jack, or Jenny, or say, "Well done, old fellow!"