Even in the days before his accession, when his finances were notoriously low, he had somehow contrived to ride a first-rate horse.

Everybody likes a man who rides a good horse.

At the same time there was nothing horsey about him; he was always the gentleman.

Since his succession the young squire, as he was familiarly described--most of the others being elderly---had selected his horses with such skill that it was well known a very great man had noticed them, so that when he came to the Bench, young as he was, Marthorne escaped the unpleasant process of finding his level--_i.e._ being thoroughly put down.
If not received quite as an equal by that assemblage of elderly gentlemen, he was made to feel that at all events they would listen to what he had to say.

That is a very great point gained.