88 THE JOCKEY CLUB 1750- 



and at his death, in 1802, the barony, viscounty, and 

 estates appear to have passed to his cousin, the Kev. 

 Sir W. Lowther, of Swillington. Sir James is said 

 to have been satirised by ' Peter Pindar,' and to have 

 fought a duel with a Captain Cuthbert. His unpopu- 

 larity appears to have been connected with the ' evic- 

 tion of tenants ' (just as if he had been an Irish 

 landlord of our day) ; but he was allowed by common 

 consent to have left an admirable will, and he is 

 mentioned by Horace Walpole as a munificent patron 

 of art. He was, at any rate, a munificent patron of 

 the Turf and the thoroughbred; and he is said to 

 have had in his stud at one time six stallions whose 

 aggregate age was 144 years. Among them were 

 Pleader (died at thirty-one, all but a fortnight, in April 

 1801) and Ajax (died in November, 1800, at twenty- 

 nine), and we are told that the two old horses stood 

 together in the same stable for several years, agreed 

 together, and walked out together in the Park, at 

 Lowther, Westmoreland, when 'Ajax affected his 

 youthful vigour, and Pleader tottled after him.' A 

 pleasant glimpse this of the wicked ways of the ' bad 

 Lord Lonsdale,' who seems at least to have been careful 

 of his old and decrepit horses. Sir James appears 

 in the list (1762) of those members of the Jockey 

 Club who agreed to adopt ' colours,' but seems not to 

 have made up his mind what they should be, and in the 

 list of 1770 does not appear at all. He won, however, 

 a Jockey Club Plate with Jason in 1757 and with 



