The post and the paddock: with recollections of turf celebrities, by the Druid

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Page 101 - Kates, and Jennies, All the names that banish care ; Lavish of your grandsire's guineas, Show the spirit of an heir. "All that prey on vice and folly Joy to see their quarry fly : There the gamester, light and jolly, There the lender, grave and sly.
Page 77 - I was witness of, the King sitting and toying with his concubines, Portsmouth, Cleveland, and Mazarine, etc., a French boy singing love songs, in that glorious gallery, whilst about twenty of the great courtiers and other dissolute persons were at basset round a large table, a bank of at least ¿2,000 in gold before them; upon which two gentlemen who were with me made reflections with astonishment. Six days after was all in the dust...
Page 101 - Pavilion was full of guests ; the Steyne was crowded with all the rank and fashion from London during that week ; the best horses were brought from Newmarket and the North, to run at these races, on which immense sums were depending ; and the course was graced by the handsomest equipages. The
Page 101 - legs" and betters, who had arrived in shoals, used all to assemble on the Steyne at an early hour to commence their operations on the first day, and the buzz was tremendous, till Lord Foley and Mellish, the two great confederates of that day, would approach the ring, and then a sudden silence ensued, to await the opening of their betting books.
Page 54 - The very men who gamble without scruple in time bargains and lives, would think their credit as fathers of families compromised if they were known to bet on a horse-race. Still, while we point out this inconsistency, and believe that the turf would sicken and droop without betting, as completely as commerce and business without speculation, we cannot but deeply deplore that men with ample means will not consider such a noble sport quite amusement enough of itself, without the extra stimulant of
Page 79 - This is the true way a horse should be held fast in his running. . " NB — If the Jockey Club will be pleased to give me two hundred guineas, I will make them a bridle as I believe never was, and I believe can never be, excelled for their light weights to hold their horses from running away...
Page 222 - I to choose a hunter by seeing one point only, it should be his head ; for I never knew one with a small, clean, intelligent face and prominent eyes to be bad. I like his neck also to be muscular, but not heavy ; shoulders well back, with long arms ; short from the knee to the fetlock ; pasterns rather long but not upright ; his feet cannot well be described on paper, but they should be large and perfect, or all the rest is as
Page 102 - ... box being replaced by Sir John Lade — issued out of the gates of the Pavilion, and, gliding up the green ascent, was stationed close to the Grand Stand, where it remained the centre of attraction for the day. At dinner-time the Pavilion was resplendent with lights, and a sumptuous banquet was...
Page 98 - Road," that the print still occupied, in his time, the post of honour over the Old Club chimney-piece at Melton, though a generation of sportsmen had passed away, and the room had been three times papered. With the remembrance of this stable scene fresh in his mind, it was no wonder that the Prince felt sure that Chifney would never play him false ; and that Chifney, more sorry for his royal master than himself, bore the temporary blasting of his riding hopes with such manly fortitude.
Page 124 - Chifney, when you're near an easel," was the old painter's favourite pun ; but on this occasion, while his first Derby laurels were still fresh, he was pretty patient in Ben's hands, and (though the lips are perhaps rather thick) the Riddlesworth portrait aptly represents the countenance and long easy seat of the jockey of thirty-two. Herring painted his likeness in after-years in the great picture which he executed for Lord Kelburne, of the York Match, and also in his start for the Derby...

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