on of Harry; the next, and the next after, were only
repetitions of the same scene. The little gentry, whose tastes and
manners were totally different from his, had now imbibed a perfect
contempt for Harry, and it was with great difficulty that they
condescended to treat him even with common civility. In this _laudable_
behaviour they were very much confirmed by Master Compton and Master
Mash. Master Compton was reckoned a very genteel boy, though all his
gentility consisted in a pair of buckles so big that they almost
crippled him; in a slender emaciated figure, and a look of consummate
impudence. He had almost finished his education at a public school,
where he had learned every vice and folly which is commonly taught at
such places, without the least improvement either of his character or
his understanding. Master Mash was the son of a neighbouring gentleman,
who had considerably impaired his fortune by an inordinate love of
horse-racing. Having been from his infancy accustomed to no other
conversation than about winning and losing money, he had acquired the
idea that, to bet successfully, was the summit of all human ambition. He
had been almost brought up in the stable, and therefore had imbibed the
greatest interest about horses; not from any real affection for that
noble animal, but merely because he considered them as engines for the
winning of money. He too was now improving his talents by a public
education, and longed impatiently for the time when he should be set
free from all restraint, and allowed to display the superiority of his
genius at Ascot and Newmarket.

These two young gentlemen had conceived the most violent dislike to
Harry, and lost no occasion of saying or doing everything they had in
their power to mortify him. To Tommy, they were in the contrary
extreme, and omitted no opportunity of rendering themselves agreeable to
him. Nor was it long before their forward vivacious manners, accompanied
with a knowledge of many of those gay scenes, which acted forcibly upon
Tommy's imagination, began to render their conversation highly
agreeable. They talked to him about public diversions, about celebrated
actresses, about parties of pleasure, and parties of mischief. Tommy
began to feel himself introduced to a new train of ideas, and a wider
range of conduct; he began to long for the time when he should share in
the glories of robbing orchards, or insulting passengers with impunity;
but when he heard that