261 



equanimity has perhaps contributed as largely, as opulence and exalted 

 rank. 



The late patriotic Mr. Fox may, Avithout any invidious intent, be 

 adduced as a directly opposite example. He was accustomed, himself 

 to ridicule his ill success upon the turf, and the game of his horses, 

 Avhich were in general too stout to have speed enough to win. If I mav 

 be allowed to offer a conjecture, the want of success of this eminent per- 

 son, both in the sportiug and political course, originated in the same 

 cause. Perhaps Seagull, by Woodpecker, which in the year 1790, won 

 the Oatlands Irom the Prince of Wales's Escape, was the. best racer 

 Mr. Fox ever possessed. 



In an amusing volume, intituled, " Sporting Anecdotes," I ob- 

 serve a copy of verses to the memory of old John jMedley, formerly 

 keeper of a coffee-house, in Round Court, Strand, one of the chief 

 houses of resort, in London, for sporting people of a certain degree, par- 

 ticularly professional men, and persons of rank were sometimes found 

 there. Major O'Kelly, England, Tetherington, Hull, and others of 

 their standing, were among the constant visitants and supporters of the 

 house, where an adventurer might be accommodated with a bet of five 

 or five hundred pounds. There was also a play-or-pay dinner, as Med- 

 ley used to phrase it, alluding to its certainty on the day, at four shillings, 

 every Sunday, calculated in point of time, for the convenience of those 

 who returned from their ride in Rotten Row. About the year 1777, 

 and thereafter seven or eight years, I occasionally frequented this 

 house for my amusement, and for the sake of keeping up my stock of in- 

 formation on a subject, to which I have ever been passionately attached. 

 But I must here remark, least any should suppose I have been con- 

 cerned in the business of the turf, or a great trainer of Horses, that the 

 degree of knowledge, with which the reader may be inclined to compli- 

 ment me, has been obtained in a very private way ; yet it has been jirac- 

 tical. I was much amused, butnot much informed, by my conversations 

 with Medley, whose forte was chiefly sporting history and anecdote. 

 Like all superficial sportsmen, he was exceedingly attached to particular 

 Horses; and to assert that his Bacchus was not the best Horse in the 

 world, would stir up the habitual choler of old John, equally with pity- 

 ing 



