THE RING, THE TURF, AND PARLIAMENT 



Gully would have punched his head if he had 

 not consented.' All this was told me by Hill in 

 his broadest Yorkshire accent." 



It would seem that Greville's portrait of Gully's 

 personal appearance was not exaggerated. When 

 the late Lord FitzwiUiam came of age in 1836 

 an entertainment was given at the family seat of 

 Wentworth Woodhouse to celebrate the occasion. 

 Upwards of two thousand persons were present. 

 Among the groups that passed from room to 

 room there was one that attracted universal atten- 

 tion. It was formed of three persons. The central 

 one a fine, manly, athletic, yet well-formed and 

 graceful figure, and resting on either arm two of 

 the loveliest women of all the assembled multitude. 

 They were unknown, but the whisper was every- 

 where, " Who are they ? Who can they be ? " 

 At length it was discovered that they were Mr. 

 Gully and his daughters — Mr. Gully, the ci-devant 

 prize-fighter, the owner of the St. Leger winner 

 of 1832, the newly elected Member of the neigh- 

 bouring borough of Pontefract, and the proprietor 

 of a large estate. ^ 



Hero worship — the thin illusion of the biographer 

 — makes bad history. The chronicle of a hero 

 seldom adheres to veracity, and usually is as 

 untrustworthy as an epitaph. Gully was no hero. 

 He was a sporting representative of his day. He 

 moved with a sure step among the Chesterfields, 

 the Bentincks, the Grevilles, the Paynes, and the 



' This account is taken from Mr. Buckingham's autobiography. 

 ]VIr. Buckingham was then Member for Sheffield, and appears to 

 have been one of Lord Fitzvvilliam's guests on the occasion in 

 question. 



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