40 FAMOUS KACING MEN. 



John Scott, insinuating that Acrobat " ought to have won the St. 

 Leger." The attack was not confined to mere insinuation, for letters 

 were written to Lord Derby, in which Scott's conduct in the affair 

 was strongly denounced, and a determined effort was made by the 

 writers to poison the earl's mind against his trainer. They had 

 reckoned, however, without their host, for his lordship's intimate 

 knowledge of Scott had then extended over twelve years, and as the 

 earl was never known to desert a friend unless very sufficient reasons 

 were jmt before him for doing so, he not only refused to listen to 

 the charges made, but with characteristic chivalry undertook to 

 defend the cause of his maligned trainer. Lord Derby did not 

 take this course without ample justification ; he knew and properly 

 valued the worth of the master of Whitewall, and he at once pub- 

 licly exj)ressed his unbounded confidence in the integrity of Scott. 

 Not content with doing this, his lordship openly rebuked the calum- 

 niators of his trainer, and the steps which were taken by Scott with the 

 entire concurrence of Lord Derby, led to an ample apology and a full 

 retractation of the calumnious insinuations. It would be impossible 

 to give a better illustration of the chivalrous, manly, and honourable 

 character of the Earl of Derby than this anecdote affords. And whilst 

 the Conservative party in England will long cherish his political 

 virtues in fond and grateful remembrance, and revere him as the 

 honest statesman and the brilliant orator, sportsmen, too, will hold 

 his name in veneration as one of the purest and most disinterested 

 lovers of the great national sport that England has ever seen. 



THE DUKE OF QUEENSBEEEY. 



''OLD Q." 



THERE was no man in England, or perhaps in Europe, about 

 whom more scandal was talked a hundred years ago than James 

 Douglas, fourth and last Duke of Queensberry, the notorious " Old 

 Q," as he was called, or " The Star of Piccadilly." And during the 

 first decade of the present century country cousins when they came 

 up to town and were being chaperoned over the sights of the West 

 End by their Cockney relations, were certain, as they passed down 

 Piccadilly, to have their attention directed to the " wicked old 

 nobleman," as, seated on the balcony in his cane chair, dressed in blue 

 coat and yellow breeches, and wearing a curious little brown chip 

 hat, lined with green, he ogled with his glasses all the petticoats that 

 passed within range of his vision. Then,, with bated breath, were 

 told the awful stories which were in circulation respecting the wild 

 pranks and unspeakable orgies in which this inveterate roue and 

 debauchee indulged to the very last — and how he sustained his 

 flagging energies and braced up his worn-out constitution with all 

 kinds of wonderful restoratives, notably milk baths and copious 



