62 FAMOUS RACING MEN. 



partridges on the first day to his own gun ; and he and his brother- 

 in-law, Mr. Walter GrrifSn, have been known to kill six hundred head 

 of game in a single forenoon. Barring Scotland there were few 

 moors to be found anywhere better than Mr. Mytton's ; and when it 

 is said that the annual value of his Merionethshire estate was €800, 

 and that it consisted of little else than a sheep walk, its great extent 

 may be imagined. Thirty brace of grouse were the average daily 

 amount bagged during his annual visit to Mowddy, where he had 

 comfortable accommodation for himself and three or four friends. 

 But, devoted though he was to these sports, the grand passion of 

 Mytton's life was for racing. He had the courage to purchase 

 good horses — for example, he gave 3,000 guineas for Longwaist 

 (though the horse's owner, the well-known Fulwar Craven, did not 

 believe the animal was worth the sum), and his never-failing memory 

 enabled him to measure their ability by others in a manner that 

 tm-ned to his account. Previously, indeed, to the loss of his 

 trainer and rider, William Dunn, who was killed by a fall in riding 

 one of his horses at Chester, INlr. Mytton had his full share of 

 success ; but fortune appeared to forsake him gradually after that 

 period. The fact was, Dunn was not only an excellent trainer and 

 rider, but he had some power over his master to restrain his running 

 his horses to a standstill, which he would do if left to his own dis- 

 cretion, and more for the sake of showing sport than from a desire to 

 win money. The side-board at Halston exhibited thirteen gold cups, 

 besides two silver ones, several of which were the trophies of one 

 horse — the celebrated Euphrates, who like one of the old sort (now be- 

 come scarce) continued running and winning to his thhteenth year. 

 The expenses of Mytton's stud, however, must have been enormous ; 

 not only by reason of its number, but owing to the immense annual 

 sum which he disbursed in subsci-iptions. Of the science of breeding 

 racehorses he knew little or nothing, and the richness of the land 

 at Halston proved fatal to success. His old friend, " Nimrod," from 

 wiiose biography of Jack Mytton these facts are mainly condensed, 

 says of him, " His good nature and kind heartedness accompanied him 

 everywhere. He often started his horses without a prospect of their 

 winning for the purpose of affording sport, overruling the objections 

 of his trainer by saying, ' 'Tis a pity the country people should come so 

 far from home and not have some fun.' In fact that class of persons 

 always built on diversion when ' Squire Mytton's ' horses were on the 

 turf, and consequently with them the popularity of their owner had 

 no bounds. ' Wliich is he ? ' they would cry out to one of their 

 friends who knew him. 'ThatV^e/ that's Mytton!' the friend 

 would reply. ' Dang it ! ' you would hear a Staffordshire potter or 

 a Walsall nailer exclaim, ' ha looks loike a good un ; they tells me 

 ha can foight 'nation well ! ' " 



A summary of ]Mr. Mytton's actual racing career may be com- 

 prised in a few words. He had too many horses in the first place, 

 and too many of them not good enough to pay their way. It is 



