“But Tom would n't mind him, for he was going on reciting the animal's perfections, and telling him how he was bred out of Kick the Moon, by Moll Flanders, and that Lord Dunraile himself only parted with him because he did n't think him showy enough for a charger. 'Though, to be sure,' said Tom, 'he's greatly improved since that. Will you try him in the school, Mr. Dempsey?' said he; 'not but I tell you that you 'll find him a little mettlesome or so there; take him on the grass, and he's gentleness itself,--he's a kid, that's what he is.' “'And his price?' said my grandfather. “Dycer whispered something in his ear. “'Blood alive!' said my grandfather. “'Devil a farthing less. Do you think you 're to get beauty and action, ay, and gentle temper, for nothing?' “My dear, the last words, 'gentle temper,' wasn't well out of his mouth when 'the kid' put his two hind-legs into the little pulpit where the auctioneer was sitting, and sent him flying through the window behind him into the stall. “'That comes of tickling him,' said Tom; 'them blackguards never will let a horse alone.' “'I hope you don't let any of them go out to the reviews in the Park, for I declare to Heaven, if I was on his back then, Dodd and Dempsey would be D. D. sure enough.' “'With a large snaffle, and the saddle well back,' says Tom, 'he's a lamb.' “'God grant it,' says my grandfather; 'send him over to me to-morrow, about eleven.' He gave a check for the money,--we never heard how much it was,--and away he went. “That must have been a melancholy evening for him, for he sent for old Rogers, the attorney, and after he was measured for breeches and boots, he made his will and disposed of his effects, 'For there's no knowing,' said he, 'what 176 may do for me.' Rogers did his best to persuade him off the excursion,-- “'Dress up one of Dycer's fellows like you; let him go by the Lord-Lieutenant prancing and rearing, and then you yourself can appear on the ground, all splashed and spurred, half an hour after.' “'No,' says my grandfather, 'I 'll go myself.' “For so it is, there 's no denying, when a man has got ambition in his heart it puts pluck there. Well, eleven o'clock came, and the whole of Abbey Street was on foot to see my grandfather; there was n't a window had n't five or six faces in it, and every blackguard in the town was there to see him go off, just as if it was a show. “'Bad luck to them,' says my grandfather; 'I wish they had brought the horse round to the stable-yard, and let me get up in peace.' “And he was right there,--for the stirrup, when my grandfather stood beside the horse, was exactly even with his chin; but somehow, with the help of the two clerks and the book-keeper and the office stool, he got up on his back with as merry a cheer as ever rung out to welcome him, while a dirty blackguard, with two old pocket-handkerchiefs for a pair of breeches, shouted out, 'Old Dempsey's going to get an appetite for the oysters!'