PRIME MINISTERS AND THEIR RAGE-HORSES 



before " — these are the constituent elements of 

 a most wholesome tonic, and impart a moral so 

 often wanting in the mentality of public men. 

 The philosophy of racing might be written in many 

 volumes. It is a living comment on the uncer- 

 tainty of human expectation, a living disproof of 

 finality, a living reminder that there is an authority 

 higher than the highest. The victory of an outsider 

 by a short head is the killing frost that nips the 

 very root of exultation. 



It is, however, useless to develop this theme. 

 Ministers of to-day have no taste for the Turf. 

 Is it because their dispositions are superior to its 

 reputed morality ? Assuredly not. With a zest 

 equal to the distempered passions of the eighteenth 

 century they contrive all the secret intricacies of 

 Parliamentary management and political intrigue. 

 They still extract full value from unquestioning 

 service and the seductive hints of the Patronage 

 Secretary. Without the sordid leaven of rewards 

 and punishments individual genius and a soaring 

 spirit are in vain. The struggle for ofBce and 

 honours is stubborn and tenacious, and the success- 

 ful are duly paid in the current coin of cozenage. 

 The thought of a coronet 



Dissolves them into ecstacies. 



And brings all heaven before their eyes. 



Indeed, a levee of placemen is a less worthy 

 assembly than the Turf Senate in council, and 

 the Garter is often gained by arts which com- 

 pare unfavourably with the sportsman's plans for 

 winning the Blue Riband of Epsom Downs. 



only one of the Duke of Devonshire's possessions which he coveted — a 

 remark which would have been greatly appreciated by the late Duke. 



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