PRIME MINISTERS AND THEIR RACE-HORSES 



his hair an example of the art of the friseur, his 

 trousers strapped, his whole appearance significant 

 of the senile dandyism which he always affected. 

 At that date the sporting world went to the Derby 

 in green veiled hats stuck round with dolls — 

 tot circa tmum caput tumultuantes deos — and 

 Palmerston's attire was in harmony with the 

 fashion. He saw Mr. Merry's Thormanby win 

 the race, and his only consolation was that the 

 leader of the Opposition, with Cape Flyaway, 

 shared in the same decisive defeat. 



In the week following the Derby the House of 

 Lords rejected the Paper Duties Bill. Lady 

 Palmerston in the gallery applauded their Lordships, 

 knowing well that her own Lord was of the same 

 mind. Gladstone met Palmerston in the street. 

 It was no whispered invective : the Chancellor of 

 the Exchequer's bosom blazed against the sinning 

 Senate. The ruse old cynic replied, " Of course, 

 you are mortified and disappointed, but your 

 disappointment is nothing to mine, who had a horse 

 with whom I hoped to win the Derby and he 

 went amiss at the last moment." ^ The calculated 

 irreverence of his leader must have stirred the 

 younger man to the depths. To the earnest mind 

 of the pietist the analogy was sheer profanity. 



There is no doubt that the collapse of Mainstone 

 was a bitter disappointment to Palmerston. It was 

 said that he suspected foul play. At all events, 

 he yielded to the advice of his old pad groom, 

 whom he much indulged, and removed his horses 

 from Day's stable and transferred them to Goater. 

 He gained nothing by the change, and his colours 



* Greville Memoirs, vol. viii. p. 317. 

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