10 FAMOUS RACING MEN. 



rendered liim almost invincible. There are two portraits of Tre- 

 gonwell Frampton extant; and it must be confessed that his face 

 is not a prepossessing one. It has the mean, crafty look of a miser ; 

 and one can well believe the tales told of both his avarice and 

 his cruelty. There is one horrible story narrated of him, which, if it 

 could be proved, would stamj) him as one of the most hideous 

 monsters that ever lived. It is related that he had a famous 

 horse, named Dragon, who had won his master a fortune in stakes 

 and bets, and this noble animal, so runs the tale, met with a cruel 

 and diabolical death. He had defeated a mare of extraordinary 

 speed in a match for 10,000 guineas, and the owner of the mare, 

 chagrined though he was at losing the race, nevertheless, imme- 

 diately after it, backed her to run any gelding in the world for 

 double the sum he had just lost. Frampton took the bet, and 

 said that he would on the morrow produce a gelding that should 

 beat her. That very night Dragon was, with shocking inhumanity, 

 qualified to run as a gelding, and the next day the match came 

 off. Again Dragon was victorious; but, when he reached the 

 winning-post, he fell down and died. It is only fair to Framp- 

 ton to say that this ghastly story rests on very slender founda- 

 tion. Public attention was first directed to it by Dr. Hawkesworth, 

 in the Adventurer, a periodical of the Spectator type, and 

 no other evidence has ever been adduced in support of it. 

 Veterinary surgeons, however, are agreed that it would be pos- 

 sible for a horse so mutilated to retain his full speed, and from 

 what we know of Frampton's character, we can almost believe 

 him capable of any crime that would put money in his purse. At 

 the same time, in strict justice, a charge so feebly supported by 

 evidence, should not be entertained, least of all against a man 

 who associated with all the best sportsmen of his day. What 

 sporting society was like, and what scenes Newmarket witnessed 

 in Tregonwell Frampton's time, we shall proceed to describe. 

 James II. does not appear to have patronised the sport: 

 but his successor, at least occasionally, lent it his countenance, 

 though probably he took but little interest in it. " On the 

 17th of October," writes Macaulay, " William went to New- 

 market — now a place of business rather than of pleasure, but in 

 the autumn of that age the gayest and most luxurious spot in the 

 island. It was not unusual for the whole Court and Cabinet to go 

 down to the meetings. Jewellers and milliners, players and fiddlers, 

 venal wits and venal beauties, followed in crowds. The streets 

 were made impassable by coaches-and-six. In the places of public 

 resort peers flirted with maids of honour, and officers of the Life 

 Guards, all plumes and gold-lace, jostled professors in trencher- 

 caps and black gowns. For on such occasions the neighbouring 

 University of Cambridge always sent her highest functionaries with 

 loyal addresses, and selected her ablest theologians to preach before 

 the sovereign and his splendid retinue." Such was the Newmarket 



