PREFACE IX 



from its original constitution and its uninterrupted 

 development, to the supremacy which it has partly 

 had thrust upon it and has partly acquired, and how 

 far, if at all, the time has arrived for a modification 

 of its earliest characteristics, maintained now for 

 some 150 years, in round numbers. 



Most readers, unless blinded by prejudice, are 

 likely to be convinced that a body better fitted by 

 its composition, as regards the members, by the 

 reputation it has won, and by what it has done for 

 horse-racing and horse-breeding, which latter requires 

 to be followed by the former as education by ex- 

 amination to preside over and govern the affairs of 

 the Turf, it would be almost impossible to imagine ; 

 and that any alteration in its composition, such as it 

 has been from the first, would destroy its prestige 

 and proportionately lessen its authority and utility. 

 Nor, indeed, would it be reasonable that a Club should 

 be called upon to lower its social qualification and 

 accept uncongenial associates, simply because cir- 

 cumstances have given to it a control over certain 

 matters wholly extraneous to the main purpose of the 

 original institution. All that can be demanded fairly 

 is that, as regards those extraneous matters, some 

 scheme shall be adopted, if any change at all should 

 seem desirable, for giving to the persons concerned a 



