166 THE HISTORY OF

But what gave him more pleasure than all the rest, was some~
times to accompany his mistress upon a little horse, which he
managed with infinite dexterity.

Jack, too, discovered a great disposition for all the useful and
mechanic arts. He had served an apprenticeship already to
the manufactory of iron, and of this he was almost as vain as
being a soldier. As he began to extend his knowledge of
the world, he saw that nothing could be done without iron,
“ How would you plough the ground,” said Jack; “how
would you dig your garden ; how would you even light a fire,
dress a dinner, shoe a horse, or do the least thing in the world,
if we workmen at the forge did not take the trouble of pre-
paring it for you?” These ideas naturally gave Jack a great
esteem for the profession of a blacksmith, and in his occasional
visits to the forge with the horses, he learnt to make and fix a
shoe as neat as any artist in the country. Nor were Jack’s
talents confined to the manufactory of iron; his love of horses
was so great, and his interest in everything that related to
them, that it was not long before he acquired a competent
knowledge in the art of saddlery. There was in the family
where he now lived, a young gentleman, nephew of his mis-
tress, who had lost his parents, and was therefore brought up
by his aunt. As master Willets was something younger than
Jack, and a very good-natured boy, he soon began to take
notice of him, and be much diverted with his company. Jack,
indeed, was not undeserving this attention ; for, although he
could not boast any great advantage of education, his conduct
was entirely free from all the vices to which some of the lower
class of people are subject; Jack was never heard to swear,
or express himself with any indecency. He was civil and
respectful in his manners to all his superiors, and uniformly
good-natured to his equals. Master Willets had a little horse