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the former and present times. In the present state of the morals of the 

 turf, hoAvever lax they may be generally deemed, no such transactions 

 as those in Merlin's match, could be countenanced by sporting gentle- 

 men. 



His Grace the Duke of Queensbury, Father of the Turf, was some 

 years since, upon the course at Newmarket, asked rather mal apropos, 

 by a young lad, loud enough to be heard by the circle, " How am I 

 to ride this race, my Lord Duke r" This interesting question occasioned 

 much mirth, but the Duke, with a coolness and skill, peculiarly his own, 

 parried the laugh by exclaiming, "How are you to ride ? Why take the 

 lead and keep it, to be sure, if you can, how the devil would you ride }*^ 

 Which was a lucky hit, for it seems, his Grace intended to make the 

 play. I was not present to hear this, but true or not, the anecdote 

 may serve to introduce the grand turf manoeuvre of modern times, well 

 known, indeed, and practised in all, never openly acknowledged, but 

 generally understood, beyond which, in deviation from the square, no 

 gentleman ever proceeds, and even in which, there are certain nice lines 

 of discrimination, not at any rate to be passed. The familiar phrases, 

 " Did he rim to win ?" and " He was heat against his will," are sufficiently 

 illustrative, but I shall strip the matter quite naked to the view of the 

 uninitiate, from a very plain book, in which, to use an old phrase, " No 

 bottles are stopped," — my Treatise on Horses. 



" Stratagems are surely lawful in Horse-racing, as well as in Love 

 and W^ar. I shall not debate or philosophize much on this head, but 

 touch immediately on a material point, and that lightly. Is it incon- 

 sistent with the honour of a sporting gentleman, to start his Horse with 

 an intention of losing? In my opinion, by no means; I hold it to be a 

 manoeuvre in which is involved much of the general interest of sporting, 

 and which ought to be esteemed legitimate, with the proviso, that no 

 cruel or unfair methods are used to compass it. A sportsman may 

 want a good trial for his Horse, the state of his betting account may 

 require the measure, or he may have some future heavy engagement, 

 for the sake of which, it might not be safe previously to distress his 

 Horse, although an easy race might conduce to his own pleasure and 

 profit. The matter being thus universally understood, would make 



the 



