168 1kim5 of tbe 1buntin5*3Fielt> 



tickets of admission were dispensed with, and the meet- 

 ing assumed larger proportions,' 



In September 1839 the Heaton Park meeting was 

 removed to Liverpool, to the great regret of the Man- 

 chester people, who regarded ' the Northern Goodwood ' 

 as the pleasantest gathering of the year. But I am not 

 concerned here with Lord Wilton's career on the Turf 

 Let it suffice to say, that the three most famous horses 

 he owned were Gladiator, Wenlock, and Seesaw. The 

 first-named only started once, and that was for the 

 Derby of 1836, when he ran second to Bay Middleton. 

 He was the sire of Sweetmeat, and of the dam of the 

 great Gladiateur, and grandsire of Macaroni, Cremorne, 

 and Favonius. Wenlock won the St Leger of 1872, the 

 only classic race ever placed to Lord Wilton's credit, 

 over which he netted his largest stake in bets. Seesaw 

 carried off the Cambridgeshire in 1868, and the Royal 

 Hunt Cup in 1869. 



But Lord Wilton did not confine his achievements to 

 sport. His versatility was extraordinary. Sixty years 

 ago, the noble earl, then in his thirty-ninth year, was 

 thus described in the amusing ' Chaunt of Achilles,' 

 written by Charles Sheridan, or as some say, Bernal 

 Osborne, and supposed to give the views of the then 

 newly-erected statue in Hyde Park on the persons 

 who, during the year of Her Majesty's coronation, 

 passed by on their way to the Row or the Drive : — 



' Next, upon switch-tailed bay with wandering eye, 

 Attenuated Wilton canters by, 

 His character how difficult to know ! 

 A compound of psalm-tunes and tally-ho ; 

 A forward rider, half inclined to preach, 

 Though less disposed to practice than to teach ; 

 An amorous lover with a saintly twist, 

 And now a jockey, now an organist.' 



