THE OLD DUKE OF PORTLAND 101 



days was considered large. Mr. C. C. Greville was con- 

 nected with this, a gentleman much younger than him- 

 self, and considered a very good judge of racing. The 

 horses were trained by Eichard Prince, at Newmarket, 

 and generally ridden by my father. All were run, as 

 they should be, in the most straightforward way. The 

 Duke disliked a jade, and ran his horses long courses, 

 insisting on the most being made of them. He had 

 Skip Jack, Indus, Stainborough, Screw, Tiresias, Comical, 

 Theban, and others. In 1819, Tiresias won him his 

 only Derby. The victory was said, at the time, to have 

 been due to the number of false starts ; and it was, 

 moreover, alleged that these had been pre-arranged from 

 sinister motives. But the Duke, we may be sure, had 

 no hand in any such manoeuvring, if it did take place. 

 Indeed, so annoyed was he at the rumour, that he never 

 ran a horse in the race afterwards, thus keeping to his 

 word expressed at the time. This, of course, occurred 

 before I knew his Grace ; but I give it on the authority 

 of my father, who was likely to know the truth of the 

 matter. 



I have now to relate an amusing and characteristic 

 incident in relation to his racing. When Amphiaraus 

 won for him at Newmarket, he rode up to the old Bed 

 Stand saddling enclosure, to which in those days privi- 

 leged persons on horseback had the entree, a right now 

 done away with, and waited until my father returned 

 from weighing, and had mounted his hack. Then, 

 before all the people, his Grace exclaimed, in an audible 

 and solemn voice : 



'John Day, you are a thief!' and, without waiting 

 for a reply, but smiling graciously, added : ' You stole 

 that race for me.' 



This was the only occasion on which I ever remember 



