as 
34 
have enjoyed somewhat of the reputa- 
tion, of the famous earl of Rochester, 
appears by all the books describing the 
peerage, to have been born in 1730; 
but 1724 or 1725, is the more probable 
epoch, He was third earl of March, a 
title* created in 1697, expressly for the 
purpose of ennobling a junior branch of 
the Douglases, son and heir of Wilitam ° 
second earl of March, who was second 
‘son of William, first duke of Queensberry. 
This nobleman was a native of Scot- 
‘land, and resided for some time, while a 
young man, at Edinburgh: but we never 
heard that he was brought up at the 
famous university of that city, or ob- 
tained a degree there! Indeed, the re- 
puted gallantries of half a century, have 
east a shade on the education of his 
earlier years, and we have not found any 
grave presbyterian clergyman standing 
forth to claim the honour of having been 
his tutor! Some trivial and paltry ac- 
cidental circumstance has often given 
birth, according to the most celebrated 
biographers, to the pursuits of a great 
genius ; and with an eye to this perhaps, 
at might be curious to learn from what 
incident, and under what master, the 
future hero of the turf imbibed the ru- 
diments of his art. For this branch of 
knowledge, he was most probably in- 
‘debted to England, where he came up 
“while yet a youth, and was intraduced to 
court as earl of March. He was imme- 
diately taken under the special protec- 
tion of bis countryman, the earl of Bute, 
who having encreased the bed-chamber 
‘lords from twelve to eighteen, either for 
the purpose of additional state or 
influence,. or perhaps both, lord 
‘March was chosen ene of that number, 
‘He was also nearly at the same time 
elected one, of the sixteen peers of Scot- 
land, by which a vote was attached to a 
dependent office, that might be taken 
away at pleasure. With that condition, 
+his lordship was content; for he never 
aspired to the palin of eloquence, or the 
hardihood of independence; being sa- 
tisfied with a simple affirmative to the 
propositions of all the ministers of the 
day; and indeed, when he departed from 
so prudential a line of couduat, it will be 
found that an immediate dismission en- 
* This, like other honours, was originally 
the name of an office, and not a mere titular 
appellation, as at, present. The Douglases 
were formerly Lords Marches, or, in other 
_ words, entrusted withthe defences of the 
ficostish boundaries on the side of England, 
* Memoirs of the late Duke of Queensberry. 
- similar follies. 
ee 
. . " , 4 
sued. Thus, like his ancestors, while yet 
young, he participated in the forms and 
emoluments of the times, with a single 
exception only; one of them, at lease 
ever since the union, had usually repre- 
sented the person of his majesty, a9 
commissioner to the general assembly 
of the kirk of Scotland; but.it was not 
deemed prudent to hazard presbyterian 
gravity, and we may add, insult presby- 
terian morals, by such a nomination in 
regard to their successor. Far different 
scenes ane more congenial prospects. 
opened to ‘his Jordship’s view: but so 
degrading have certain pursuits become, 
that they who might have been crowned 
with the victor’s wreath during the times 
of the Olympic games, are now considered 
rather as the appropriate companions of 
their own stable-boys, than the associate 
of men of talents. . 
Sunt quos curriculo pulverem Olympicum: 
Collegisse juvat: metaque fervidiss ~ - 
Evitata rotis, palmaque nobilis, 
Terrarum Dominos evehit ad Deos. ‘ 
Hor. Od. I, ad Macen.. 
In ancient days, the contest was for 
glory; and although the means were, ndt 
very noble, yet the object was legitimate: 
during the present times they are both 
equally undignified —Money—sordid pelf 
being the sole end and aim, It ig 
now full sixty years since the earl of 
‘March distinguished himself by a wager 
with the celebrated Count Taafe,-an [righ 
catholic, who had spent some time in 
the service of the house of Austria, and 
finally beggared himself by this and 
His lordship on that oc- 
casion, exhibited the presage at least of 
that superior skill, enterprize, and suc- 
cess, which rendered him’ conspicuous 
on the turf daring half a centary; for, 
having undertaken to.-obtain. a four- 
wheeled machine which should travel 
the space of nineteen miles within sixty 
minutes, he applied to Wright, in: Loig 
Acre, who, by the diminution of weight 
and frictien, the substitition of silk and 
whalebone for leather, arid also; in part 
for wood, contrived a carriage. so light, 
and yet so strong, as to be deemed ex- 
actly suitable for: the purpose, As for 
the blood horses, the selection» of them, 
as well as, the grooms, was confided to 
his own judgment, and to’ prevent acci- 
dents, he took care to conceal the names 
of both deseriptions of' animals until the 
appointed day, when they were regulatily' 
entered by the clerk of the course,‘ 
. )Meanwhile, Newmarket having been 
selected for the experiment, the smoothi- 
est 
