EARLY TRIALS. 



137 



shown, and when Lord Coventry's drag, loaded as usual with 

 his racing friends, left the course the roughs assembled and 

 hooted most vigorously. Lord Coventry, who up to that time 

 had for some years been the chief patron of the meeting, was 

 so disgusted with the brutality and injustice of this proceeding, 

 that he in a great measure, if not entirely, discontinued his 

 support, and Worcester steadily declined both in the character 

 of attendance and sport, though it was some time before it 

 attained the sort of ' thieves' kitchen ' reputation which it has 

 lately gained. May we be pardoned this digression for the 

 purpose of proving that it was with no mean antagonist that the 

 infant Lord Lyon performed his first feat of arms ? He does 

 not appear to have been stripped again till April 29, 1865, 

 when the following trial took place. 



Half a mile. 



Won by a neck, a length between second and third, the 

 others beaten off. 



That same night Lord Lyon went amiss ; but there is every 

 reason to suppose that the late Sir R. Sutton thought Rustic 

 was actually the better of the two at this time, and also when he 

 sold the latter to the Duke of Beaufort, though there was much 

 chaff about his Grace having purchased the Ilsley second 

 string. 



Later in the year came the two trials, on the extraordinary 

 merit of which we shall have occasion to dilate when dealing 

 with the home performances of three-year-olds. 



On August 3, at three-quarters of a mile, Lord Lyon gave a 

 real taste of his quality, as follows : 



