THE TURF 99 



stud was so conspicuous the days of 

 Baronet and Escape ; the former notorious 

 for winning the Ascot Oatlands, beating 

 eighteen picked horses of England, with 

 twenty to one against him; and the latter 

 for his various races against Grey Diomed, 

 which caused his royal owner's retirement 

 from Newmarket. This is now an old 

 story; and though we should be among 

 the first to say 



' Curse on the coward or perfidious tongue 

 That dares not e'en to kings avow the truth,' 



yet we think the Jockey Club dealt rather 

 hardly by the young prince, and he was 

 quite right in refusing their invitation to 

 return. We wish for proof before we con- 

 demn; and we think proof was wanting 

 here. Where were the orders to the jockey 

 to lose, and where was the money won by 

 losing? We can hear of neither. But if 

 the change to a certain extent in a horse's 

 running (accounted for by the late Samuel 

 Chifney, 1 by the treatment of Escape) is of 

 itself enough to damage the character of 



1 In his book Genius Genuine, published in 1804 ; 

 ' Sold for the Author, 232 Piccadilly and nowhere else,' 

 as saith the title-page. Price 5/. ! 



