1773 FIEST PERIOD: CONCLUDED 157 



by a commentator, who writes of ' so respectable an 

 authority as the Jockey Club ' (alluding to a dispute 

 as to the places of Privateer and Duchess in a race at 

 Malton in 1782). From which we may conclude that 

 between 1753 and 1773 the Jockey Club was only 

 gradually attaining the degree of ' high respectability ' 

 as an arbiter in the North, and was not likely to be 

 harbouring the design, as yet, of becoming the Lycur- 

 gus of the whole English Turf. 



In 1758 the Club felt strong enough to publish two 

 resolutions; one allowing two pounds over weight, 

 and the other disqualifying (for riding at Newmarket) 

 any rider who should fail to declare, or to have de- 

 clared for him, * that the rider is above the weight 

 allowed of by the aforesaid resolution ' ; but it is not 

 clear how the resolutions were to be enforced if the 

 rider were employed by somebody who did not belong 

 to the Club, and defied its authority. In 1759 the 

 Club instituted the 'Weights and Scales Plate ' of 100 

 guineas, * out of the fund arising from the weights and 

 scales,' over which and the fees thereof the Jockey Club 

 had apparently succeeded in establishing its control ; 

 and, as it was to be ' free for any horse,' it seems to 

 have been intended by the Club pro bono publico. In 

 1762, under the auspices of the Club, there was insti- 

 tuted a Second October Meeting, so that the hitherto 

 October Meeting became known as the First October ; 

 and in the same year eighteen members signed a 

 'Besolution and Agreement' to sport certain 'colours' 



