viii THE JOCKEY CLUB 



sidered to be the arch-priest of the Club, and who 

 quietly replied that ' neither of the gentlemen who 

 had given occasion for Mr. Speaker's violent denun- 

 ciation was a member of White's, but both, he 

 believed, were members of the House of Commons.' 

 To avoid any similar mistake I have been at great 

 pains ; not that I have dealt in denunciation, but 

 that I was anxious, on general grounds, to be as sure 

 as I could be of my statements. I have, therefore, 

 thought it incumbent upon me to offer as indisput- 

 able evidence as I could discover that the persons to 

 whom I have attributed membership of the Jockey 

 Club before 1835 (which, I believe, was the first year 

 of the now annually published list of members) were 

 really entitled to the distinction thus conferred upon 

 them. 



There is no occasion to refer in detail to the 

 matters which within the last few years have made 

 the Jockey Club an object of unusual interest to the 

 public ; but they suggested to me the notion that a 

 favourable opportunity had offered itself for present- 

 ing a sketch, historical and biographical, of the Club 

 and its members, its acquisition and exercise of 

 authority, and its principal legislative work, from its 

 foundation to the present day, so that an opinion 

 may be formed as to how far that Club is entitled, 



