400 



THE MODERN SYSTEM 



utterly neglected by the first sportsmen in the 

 land, and suffered to mould and rot in garrets 

 and damp cellars. Such was the tenor of the 

 information given many years since, by Mr. 

 Sandiver, the surgeon, at Newmarket, a 

 gentleman well known in the sporting world, 

 to his correspondent, Mr. John Lawrence. 

 This surely evinced a strange want of curiosity 

 and of sensibility towards the memory of the 

 prime instruments of their sport, in the ama- 

 teurs of the turf The fragments of these 

 pictures, among which were the portraits of 

 Bay Bolton, and of poor Dragon, the sacrifice 

 to old Frampton's avarice, savage cunning, 

 and cruelty, against the authenticity of which 

 all the late attempts have been unavailing and 

 futile, were formerly said to be among those 

 destroyed as above. It is true, those old 

 portraits were rude and unscientific, evincing 

 the low and immature state of the imitative 

 art in their days ; but the ideas of curiosity 

 and enthusiasm excluded, they, no doubt, 

 generally afforded, at least, a tolerably faithful 

 outline of the animals which they represented. 

 The living likenesses of the immortal Stubbs, 

 and his ingenious successors, it may be hoped, 

 have put an end to this disgraceful neglect. 



There had been a great desire among the 

 amateurs of the Turf, to collect the portraits 

 of those superior Horses to whom the English 

 racer had been indebted ; and in the year 

 1794, the Turf Gallery was opened in Con- 

 duit-street, Hanover-square. The intention 

 of the proprietors was to give a series of all 

 the running-horses of note, with a printed \ 

 account of their pedigree and performances. | 

 To this end, they began with the " Father of I 

 the Turf," the Godolphin Arabian ; a stallion 

 allowed by all conversant in pedigree, to have 

 contributed more to the breed and improve- 



ment of Horses in this country than any Horse 

 before or since his existence. 



The undertaking, at the first blush of it, 

 promised much success to the parties con- 

 cerned; and Mr. Stubbs went to work with 

 so much spirit, that many racers, the progeny 

 of the Arabian, beautifully glowed on the can- 

 vas, in a space of time incredible to those 

 unacquainted with his industry. But the tree 

 was without a root, and the want of that nou- 

 rishment necessary to keep it alive withered 

 all the branches, and that which at first 

 seemed to flourish so fair, fell to nouoht. The 

 principal in the firm deserted the concern, 

 and of course stagnated an adventure, that, 

 had it been pursued to its intended comple- 

 tion, must have been an honour, as well as an 

 ornament, to the British nation. 



Mr. Stubbs was an artist unrivalled in his 

 day, and his pictures were sought for by roy- 

 ally, as well as by the first noblemen in the 

 land. If we were to enumerate all the pa- 

 trons of Stubbs, it would embrace the princi- 

 pal sporting characters in the kingdom. 



Captain O'Kelly had the whole of his stud 

 painted by Stubbs, and they were reckoned 

 the prime adornments at Cannons, near Edg- 

 ware. 



The Marquis of Westminster has, it is said, 

 in his possession a greater collection of the 

 prime works of this paintw than any other 

 gentleman in England. 



The Marquis's father was Stubbs's first 

 patron, and a most liberal encouiager of the 

 man whose interest he had undertaken, and 

 whose kindness was ever regarded by the 

 artist with gratitude and affection. 



One of the most prominent beautres of this 

 collection is, a Stag-hunt. This was the pic- 

 ture the Council of the Academy sat in judg- 



