8o LORD GEORGE BENTINCK 



George censured for what some may regard as his suc- 

 cessful attempt ' to ride roughshod over the community,' 

 when, having the whip-hand of them, he compelled the 

 public to give up to him bets they had taken for them- 

 selves, as they had a perfect right to do. Or it may 

 have been but an illustration of the familiar adage that 

 1 one man may steal a horse, whilst another may not 

 look over the gate.' 



Lord George was unfortunate in other ways. Who so 

 forward to impose fines on others? or who broke the 

 restrictions more frequently in the spirit, if not in the 

 letter, than himself ? We can imagine how galling was 

 the compulsory payment of a 5 penalty, which he had 

 to pay at Goodwood for inattention to, or the wilful dis- 

 regard of, one of his own enactments. Again, false 

 trials were then, as now, got up to mislead the touts 

 and deceive the newsmongers. Such things are justi- 

 fiable, I allow, in cases when one's interest is unfairly 

 assailed; yet, unless such forcible reason exists, in in- 

 stances when friends as well as enemies are deceived, the 

 case is different. Ill-natured remarks were made at the 

 time to the effect that Cherokee, a mare of his lordship's, 

 was tried in a manner to lead to the suspicion that all 

 was not aboveboard ; and as the result of the race and 

 the betting went to prove that the surmise was correct, 

 we should hardly expect that noblemen condescending to 

 such a practice should receive the unqualified approba- 

 tion of their equals, or, indeed, of honest men of any 

 position. 'Nor can our admiration be evoked by the 

 courtesy displayed in a quarrel which Lord George had 

 with Mr. Wreford, who was a partner with my father in 

 the horses he bred. The dispute occurred about the time 

 his lordship commenced to train at Danebury. The 

 quarrel was more than a wrangle ; but Mr, Wreford 



