Page:An authentic narrative of the extraordinary career of James Allen, the female husband.djvu/14

 smart and clean, that he became noted in Camberwell and the neighbouring hamlets as Mr. Ward's smart groom. While filling the situation in the household of Mr. Ward, he displayed great skill both as a groom and a farrier: in the latter capacity, by the administering of certain medicines, which James always prized as being exclusively in his own possession, he was enabled to turn out his master's horses with a skin so sleek as to procure not only the decided approbation of his employer, but also to excite in a great degree the enmity of the neighbouring grooms. Where James attained this excellent knowledge of the treatment and use of the horse, must, we fear, for ever remain a secret; for his wife, from whom the greater part of this narrative has been derived, cannot give any account of an hour of his life previous to their meeting in Mr. Ward's service, except that she had reason to believe that he had lived with one or two other gentlemen in the capacity of groom. Nor has she ever known, during the 21 years she lived with him, that any relation was in existence, except that he had frequently told her he had a grandmother possessed of property, who resided in the Leith Walk, Edinburgh. No letter, nor any other document or matter whatever, to corroborate this, was ever seen by Mrs. Allen, nor any circumstance ever occurred which could confirm this ex parte statement; so that where James originally came from, of what family he belonged to, or what relatives, if any, are in existence, there is no clue, nor is it likely there ever will be—though it is not impossible, that owing to the publicity his existence has now received, a discovery may yet be made.

The dress which James wore in Mr. Ward's service was a drab coat and waistcoat, with a narrow neat silver lace on the collar, a prim hat with cockade, buck-skin breeches, and top boots. Being so handsome and clean