270 



I can confirm the truth of the following note in Mr. Pick's Turf- 

 Register : " It has been reported, and generally believed, that Mr. Ste- 

 phe^ii Jefferson took Mother Neesham into Scotland, and won with her 

 a large gold or silver bowl. But the publisher has been informed, by 

 a very respectable gentleman, who Avas intimately acquainted Avith 

 Mr. Jefferson, from his origin of riding, until his death, that the bowl in 

 question was won by a grey gelding, called Meny Harrier, that Mr. 

 Darley had purchased of Mr. Bourchier, of Beningbrough, near York." 



In the various conversations with which Lord Somerville has ho- 

 noured me, the turf has occasionally had its share, his Lordship plea- 

 santly remarking, that had he ever engaged in sporting concerns, he 

 should have pursued them with the utmost zeal. Among other ques- 

 tions his Lordship asked me, if I had ever heard of such a Horse as 

 Merry Harrier. The name had escaped me. Lord Somerville then 

 related to me, that his grandfather, a Nobleman remarkable for a libe- 

 ral economy and success in all his pursuits, was in the habit of training a 

 few Race-horses, as a national pursuit worthy of him, and for his amuse- 

 ment. In 17:29, we find by the Register, the noble Lord ran a Horse 

 of the name of D'Arcy, for the King's Plate, at Guildford. He, how- 

 ever, about four or five years after, was desirous of sending a good Horse 

 into Scotland, and in consequence, applied to some person in the 

 North, to provide him with one Avhich would answer the purpose, di- 

 recting most punctually, in his own way of managing matters, that the 

 Horse must be capable of beating all Scotland, to a certainty, for he would 

 not, if possible, incur the risk of a disappointment, in that, or any thing 

 else. Merry Harrier was accordingly provided, and sent down into 

 Scotland, where he not only won the abovementioned bowl, but every 

 thin^ else for which he started, fully executing the commission of his 

 noble proprietor. 



Bloody Bhttocks. In the last edition of the General Stud Book, 

 it is observed of this stallion,—' Nothing farther can be traced from the 

 papers of the late Mr. Crofts, than that he was a grey Arabian, with 

 a red mark on his hip, from w^hence he derived his name. Granting this 

 to be fact, it is quite contrary to what we have been accustomed formerly 

 to hear and read concerning Bloody Buttocks, sire of the dam of 

 Squirel, which was always supposed an English Horse, bred by Mr. 



Crofts, 



