256 THE DUKE OF CLEVELAND 



1 If I don't have the horse at all/ was his answer, de- 

 livered with some warmth and apparent determination, 

 ' I will never give more than 1,100 for him.' 



And to these degenerate terms, strange to say, I sub- 

 mitted, and Cedric became his lordship's horse, and was 

 sent next morning to his trainer, Sam Rogers, at New- 

 market, which destination, I was glad to hear on the 

 return of the boy, he safely reached in good health ; for 

 it took a burden off my shoulders, as the man said who 

 lost his head in a gale of wind if the remark has not 

 also been made, in an anticipatory sense, by someone 

 else before decapitation. 



In the completion of the sale, two little matters had 

 been overlooked, which were afterwards left to Messrs. 

 Weatherby to settle. The one was the question of en- 

 gagements, of which the horse had several. One of 

 them, at York, was, to look at, a good one, and this one 

 his lordship, with his usual acumen and foresight, wanted, 

 but not the others. As I was acting for Mr. Parker, I 

 would not give my assent, but agreed that he could have 

 all or none, and he took them. The other little difficulty 

 was only a matter of 55, nothing in comparison to the 

 first, and came about in this way. His lordship said he 

 did not know whether it was pounds or guineas he had 

 given. I replied that candour compelled me to say 

 guineas were not mentioned ; but, as horses were always 

 sold for guineas at auction, and Sir Tatton Sykes would 

 not sell his horses except for guineas, I thought his lord- 

 ship would, looking at it in this light, consider the sale 

 had been made for guineas. This he generously thought 

 a fair way of putting it, and gave the extra money, or 

 1,155 in all. I got a commission of 50 on the sale 

 from Mr. Parker ; a fact I mention, as it was the only 

 money I was ever presented with for selling a horse for 



