234 HISTOEY OF THE EOYAL BUCKHOUNDS AND ASCOT EACES. 



of Her Majesty's Buckhounds, the money which remains in 

 his hands out of the 500/. which he had lately had from Mr. 

 Compton, to defray the charge of repairing the bridges over 

 the bogs, and cutting ridings through the Heath in Windsor 

 Forest for the conveniency and care of Her Majesty's hunting- 

 there." * This part of his duty likely extended to supervision 

 attending the formation of the racecourse at Ascot at the 

 first race meetings ever held there, in the months of August 

 and September 1711, where some of his horses ran ; and, what 

 is perhaps the most novel circumstance in the case, is the 

 probability that he was the first Master of the Buckhounds 

 who officiated in the ceremony, which is now familiar to all 

 attending those Royal reunions on the famous Berkshire heath. 

 Sir William Wyndham, Bart., only son of Sir Edward Wynd- 

 ham, Bart., and Catherine, daughter of Sir William Levison 

 Gower, Bart., and sister to John, Lord Gower, was born about 

 the year 1687. He was educated at Eton, and afterwards at 

 Christ Church, Oxford, where he took high honours. After he 

 left college he travelled abroad, going frequently out of the 

 beaten track usually followed in the "grand tour." About 

 this time we find the young traveller at the battle of Ramillies, 

 where, as he afterwards related, he heard a trooper utter the 

 briefest prayer on record : " If I forget Thee, O Lord, in the 

 hour of battle, do not forget me." Soon after his return to 

 England he was elected M.P. for the county of Somerset on 

 April 26, 1710, a constituency which he represented during 

 the remainder of his parliamentary career. These elections 

 call for no comment at our hands save on the occasion of his 

 return on July 4, 1711, consequent on his recent appointment 

 of Master of the Buckhounds, which was "an office of profit 

 under the Crown." In the senate he soon became a prominent 

 statesman. On June 30, 1712, he was appointed Secretary of 

 War, and on August 21, 1713, Chancellor of the Exchequer. 

 He was sworn a Privy Councillor on November 1, and on the 

 9th of that month took his seat at that Board, then assembled 

 in Windsor Castle. Upon the breach between Harley, Earl of 



* Trcastiry Papers. Letter Bool-, vol. xiii., p. 383. 



