253 



■which supported his accusation. Exchisive of the pleasure I should 

 feel in the exculpation of any man's character, I was bound in common 

 justice to comply with this requisition, and accordingly stated the in- 

 formation I had received, with my authority, in a late edition of the 

 above work, to which I refer the curious. It is contended, on the 

 testimony of a contemporary, who knew Mr. Frampton well, that no such 

 fact ever occurred, upon the turf, as that of which he stands accused ; and 

 moreover that, whatever may have been his faults, the want of huma- 

 nity was not among them. On the other hand, it will be proper to make 

 a quotation from Dr. Hawksworth, the only written authority in the 

 case, of which I am apprized. Dragon raced in the latter end of the 

 reign of Queen Anne, and Dr. Hawksworth Avas old enough to have 

 obtained his intelligence from eye-wntnesses. 



The Horse is supposed to tell his own sad story in the Elysium of 

 beasts, as follows: " At last, however, another competitor appeared; 

 I enjoyed a new triumph by anticipation ; I rushed into the field pant- 

 ing for the conquest ; and the first heat put my master in possession of 

 the stakes, which amounted to ten thousand pounds. The proprietor 

 of the mare that I had distanced, notwithstanding the disgrace, declared 

 with great zeal, that she should run the next day, against any gelding 

 in the world, for double the sum : my master immediately accepted the 

 challenge, and told him that he would the next day produce a gelding 

 that should beat her ; but what was my astonishment and indignation 

 when I discovered, that he most cruelly and fraudulently intended to 

 qualify me for this match upon the spot ; and to sacrifice my life at the 

 very moment in which every nerve should be strained in his service ! 



" As I knew it would be in vain to resist, I suffered myself to be 

 bound ; the operation was performed, and I was instantly mounted, 

 and spurred on to the goal. Injured as I was, the love of glory was 

 still superior to the desire of revenge ; I determined to die as I had 

 lived — without an equal; and having again won the race, I sunk down 

 at the post in an agony, which soon put an end to my life." 



" When I had heard this horrid narrative, zijhieh indeed I remembered 

 to be true, I turned about, in honest confusion, and blushed that I was 

 a man !" «» - 



The 



