<36 



THJ: MODERN SYSTEM 



If, was about this time that it was said he 

 lost ten thousand pounds in a matcli at bil- 

 liards, at Calais. 



A writer in speaking of Halston, says : " It 

 is in good truth the very beau ideal of a 

 sportsman. AH that Nature can do, all that 

 Art, aided by the best taste and the most 

 lavish hand, might achieve, is here in the 

 prodigality of profusion. This noble residence 

 is situate in the county of S;dop, two miles 

 from Oswestry, and about six from Ellesmere. 

 While the far western horizon is occupied by 

 the chain of lofty Montgomeryshire moun- 

 tains, to the north and east the bold Denbigh- 

 shire hills, waving- with the noble woods of 

 Chirk Castle, give it their shelter. In front to 

 the south expands its own ample domains, 

 rich as Tempe ; and beyond again is seen that 

 truly English landscape — 



' The village church that crowns the Qistant hill ;' 



the substantial far'^" -house, with its well- 

 stocked inclosures, and its belt of fruit-trees ; 

 the humble dwelling of the cottager, trellissed 

 with roses and jessamine; and the bright 

 water that leaps and sparkles in the sun- 

 beam, which woes its freshness. Oh ! the 

 memory of that sylvan paradise, and the 

 happy, happy days that I have passed within 

 t " 



u. 



In the year 1817, this meteor of the turf 

 commenced his operations with three Horses. 

 In 1819 we find him with eight; in 1822 he 

 had fourteen in training ; and in the close of 

 that year twenty-one ! 



On being asked by a friend in what year 

 his turf expences had been the greatest? the 

 reply was, " 1 think it was the year I raced 

 Longwaist ; aye, it was : I spent seventy ihou- 

 tattd poundu that year!" That was in 1826. 



Still it is supposed by some, that in 1823 he 

 was in the zenith of his glory as a master of 

 race-horses. With such Horses as Habber- 

 ley, Euphrates, and about a dozen like them, 

 Mytton was certainly considered to stand first 

 among the provincials. 



Notwithstanding the enormous sums which 

 he expended on his turf establishment, he was 

 never winner of any of the great stakes. In 

 the year 1824, he had a brown colt in the 

 Leger, Oswestry, who was we believe sixth, 

 and that was his nearest attempt. Birming- 

 ham, the conqueror of Priam, and the victor 

 in the great race in 1830, was bred for him, 

 but fell into other hands. Taken all together, 

 perhaps little Banker, bought of Mr. Lech- 

 mere Charlton, was his favourite. 



Mytton was far from particular in nursing 

 his Horses. He used to ride Euphrates witn 

 greyhounds when in training. Euphrates won 

 thirtv-eight times. Before taking leave of 

 Euphrates, we cannot help noticing that tins 

 prime son of Quiz won the Darlington Cup at 

 Wolverhampton, in his thirteenth year ! He 

 could not be got to run straight till after he 

 was castrated ; but after that operation au 

 infant might have rode him all his races, and 

 steered him with a silken thread. 



Halston, a son of Banker, was an extra- 

 ordinary good Horse. His style of winning 

 the great cup at the Liverpool meeting in the 

 year 1831, was a proof of this; but he was 

 not kept to be looked at. If ever anything on 

 four legs did more to earn his corn, we know 

 nothing of horse-ilesh ; he was eternally kept 

 going. This was Mytton's great misfortune ; 

 like the boy and the golden egg, he was 

 never satisfied. Halston, Hedgford, and all 

 his Horses were running in 1831, and subse- 

 quently in the name of Beardsworth. In this 



