CHAPTERS FROM TURF HISTORY 



is the glory of the Chief Minister. Even mild 

 and tentative excursions into the arid fields of 

 theology and philosophy will have a place in the 

 memory of a posterity which will wholly forget the 

 dialectical triumphs of debate and the charm of 

 a temperament unequal to the task of leadership. 



The varying ventures of politicians in a sphere 

 which they do not officially control are often 

 salutary lessons of their own insignificance. Ihe 

 higher men rise above the average mass of mankind 

 the more clearly they should recognize the limita- 

 tion of their powers and their incapacity to act 

 the part of Providence. Although an Empire is 

 governed from Whitehall, yet a Minister's horizon is 

 frequently little more than the country squire's 

 with its boundary of visibility from the church 

 tower. When fashion compels the flattery of 

 conspicuous men and the heaping-up of super- 

 latives upon their passing deeds, it is well that 

 they should realize that their achievements are 

 merely the events which accidentally surround 

 their names ; that, in the main, they owe their 

 situation in the political orbit to the iron rules of 

 caste ; and that they are honoured largely at the 

 expense of the silent labourers of their Departments. 



To minds uplifted by the political atmosphere 

 the Turf supplies an admirable corrective. The 

 vivid passion and the varied action inseparable 

 from the sport, the fluctuating fortunes and the 

 miscarriage of high hopes, the equality of all 

 owners at the fall of the flag — as " when Careless 

 beat His Grace's Atlas ^ that never was beat 



^ Atlas was the horse who was shown to Dr. Johnson on the 

 occasion of his visit to Chatsworth. Dr. Johnson said he was the 



12 



