COLONEL MELLISH. 51 



estate squandered and lost, and a life of great promise \vat;ted in the 

 gratification of an insane passion for gambling. Legitimate [)atron- 

 age of the great national sport could have done, and, in fact, did 

 him no harm, and had he been content to be a successful racing- 

 man his career mioht have been a lono; and honom'able one. But 

 the dice ruined him, and the only extenuating circumstance which 

 leads the moralist to deal tenderly with his reputation is that 

 lie was never guilty of any act that was mean, disgraceful, or dis- 

 honourable. 



ROYALTY ON THE TURF. 



CHARLES II., as we have ah'eady stated, is credited with being 

 an ardent patron of the turf; but as horse-racing was only 

 in its infancy in his days there is not much interest attaching to 

 the " Merry Monarch's '" connection with it. Of his immediate 

 successors on the throne, neither James II. nor William III. evinced 

 the slightes-t partiality for the sport; but, strange to say, in heavy, 

 dull, plethoric, prudish Queen Anne, horse-racing found a sincere 

 ;ind constant supporter. It was she who first started the Ixoyal 

 (jrold Cups in the north; and not only did her Majesty give these 

 handsome prizes, she was also very eager in running her own 

 liorses for them. But the Royal stable was not fortunate. The 

 Queen, indeed, had a pretty good horse in her grey gelding. Pepper, 

 who was placed for the York G-old Cu^) in 1712; and another grey 

 liorse of hers (she had a fancy for that colour), ]Mustard, ran well 

 there in 1713, but neither was good enough to win his Royal 

 mistress a Gold Cup. She was destined, however, at last to win 

 a triumph at York, though it was one of which she was ne\er con- 

 scious, for on the very morning on which her brown horse, Star, won 

 for her her first great victory on the tuif, Friday, July 30th, 1714, 

 the Queen was seized with apoplexy, and remained in a state of in- 

 sensibility until Sunday, August 1st, when she died. Neither George 

 I. nor George II. understood or appreciated the attractions of horse- 

 racing; and although George HI. was fond of hunting, and kejjt 

 two packs of hounds, he had no affection for the turf; and his 

 annual visit with his family to Ascot Heath was all the encourage- 

 ment he gave the sport, if we except a plate of a hundred 

 guineas to be run for by horses that had been regularly hunted 

 with the Royal Hounds during the preceding winter. His son, 

 George lY., however, atoned for all the shortcomings of his an- 

 cestors in this ]-espect, and both before and after his accession to 

 the throne, was passionately devoted to racing. As his career on 

 the turf presents many curious and interesting features, we shall 

 give a brief sketch of it here. 



It was in the year 1784 that George IV., then Prince of Wales, 



