After this he was employed as a stable-boy and jockey at Newmarket. The change in his circumstances thus brought about was a very happy one, for he had now good fare, a comfortable bed to sleep on, decent or rather _smart_ clothes, of which he was not a little proud; and, added to all this, a certain position in respectable society! His father had a friend at Newmarket who had a taste for reading, and followed the "profession" of feeder and trainer of gamecocks for the pit. This man was struck with Thomas Holcroft's natural ability, and lent him books to read, such as the "Spectator" and "Gulliver's Travels." While at Newmarket he was one day passing a church, and stopped to listen to the music of the choir, then engaged in practice. He ventured to enter the church, and feeling a strong desire to learn to sing, spoke to the leader. Mr. Langham, who, finding the stable-boy had a good voice, admitted him into the choir. He threw himself so heartily into this new and fascinating study, that it was not long before he could read music and sing in good style. At the age of sixteen, he again went to live with his father, who had once more returned to the shoemaker's stall, and lived in London. Here he learned enough of the trade to earn a livelihood, but he involved himself in premature cares by an imprudent marriage when only twenty years of age. And now the passion for a roving life got the better of him, and quitting the monotony of a cobbler's room, he betook himself to the stage. For seven years he led the life of a strolling player, "and sounded all the depths and shoals" of misery incident to such a precarious existence.