6i 



something to encourage it, presenting the 

 Jockey Club in 1832 with one of the hoofs 

 of Eclipse set in gold, which, with ^200 

 given by himself, was to be run for annually 

 by horses the property of members. " The 

 Eclipse Foot "appears to have brought fields 

 for only four years, and then remained an 

 ornament of the Jockey Club rooms at New- 

 market. 



In the same year, 1832, a new schedule 

 of weights was appended to the Articles for 

 the King's Plates ; this shows that the 

 weights to be carried varied somewhat 

 according to the places where the races were 

 run. No scale was prescribed for New- 

 market, the conditions being left for settle- 

 ment by the Jockey Club. In 1837, the last 

 year of William's reign, the number of Royal 

 Plates had again increased and stood at 48, 

 34 in England and Scotland, 14 in Ireland. 



The king continued the breeding stud at 

 Hampton Court which his brother had be- 

 queathed to him ; if his affection for the Turf 

 was slight, he deserves the greater credit for 

 having maintained it. 



The reign of William IV. saw the coach- 

 ing age at its best, for rapid travel by road 

 was raised to a science only a few years 

 before its extinction by the introduction of 



