260 THE DUKE OF CLEVELAND 



deccribe what happened in respect to the mare that I 

 took in part-payment for him. 



On my arrival at Epsom, after the horse had been 

 duly handed over to him, Sam Rogers gave me up the 

 mare, which, according to Lord William's orders, would 

 have run in the Oaks had he kept her, a race she could 

 not have lost had she been fit and started, according to 

 her running in the autumn. Then the following little 

 colloquy took place. 



' I suppose,' says Sam, addressing me, ' I suppose 

 11 the Land " is lame, or you would not have sold him.' 



I assured him over and over again that he was the 

 soundest horse in the world, but he would not be con- 

 vinced. Then, in answer to my inquiries as to my new 

 purchase, he said : 



' She is a nice little mare, and will win you a handi- 

 cap if you do not aim at too much with her ;' and he 

 named the Leamington Stakes at Warwick as likely to 

 suit her ; and he added that if she were well he would 

 like to stand in with me 10 on the race, or in any other 

 little handicap I thought she might win. 



So ended the incident of my purchase of Dulcibella. I 

 give it in detail, because shortly afterwards it was said, 

 with such confident impudence as to obtain implicit 

 belief in some quarters, that Sam Rogers and myself had 

 devised a plan of cheating Lord William out of his 

 valuable mare for our own gain ! There is really no 

 occasion to refute this audacious statement, because, as 



have shown, the purchase was completed between Lord 

 William and myself before Sam knew a word that such a 

 thing was even in contemplation. And to show how 

 unlikely the assumption was, I may say that Sam Rogers 

 was never a friend of mine, nor was he a man with 

 whom I associated, or even met anywhere but on the 



