ADMIRAL ROUS. HI 



its bright side. On the one hand, it encourages the breed of horse* 

 and suppHes enjoyment for thousands of all ranks of life ; but, on the 

 other hand, there are dangers connected with it which, if permitted 

 to go to an unseemly length, threaten the vitality and well-being of 

 our great national sport. Among the men of wealth, character and 

 position whose patronage has done so much for the tuif in modem 

 times, our honoured guest of this evening holds a conspicuous place. 

 He has always done his best to repress everything of a fraudulent or 

 dislionourable nature. He has laboured to reconcile conflicting in- 

 terests ; and, though he may have made mistakes, as the best and 

 greatest of human beings are liable to do, he has enjoyed the respect 

 and affection of every class of the racing community. And I am 

 sure there is but one feeling among all present this evening, and, 

 indeed, among all true sportsmen throughout tfreat Britain, that, 

 if Admiral Rous should retire, he will leave a void impossible to fill." 

 It is needless to say that Earl Granville's eloquent words expressed 

 the sentiments of all genuine lovers of the turf wherever the English 

 language is spoken; and when, on Tuesday, the 19th of June, 1877, 

 after a long and fluctuating illness, chequered with gleams of hope 

 to the very last, the sad news spread that the Dictator of the Turf 

 was no more, the whole sporting world felt that it had lost 



"A man, take him for all in all, 

 We shall nut hiok upon his like again."' 



Among the peculiarities of the gallant old admiral we may 

 notice two : Ids aversion to betting and to tobacco. On the latter 

 point he and his old friend, tf eorge Payne, were at one, both hold- 

 ing the opinion that half the ills that modern flesh is heir to may 

 be traced to the use of "that vile and pernicious weed." As to 

 the former, his views were of the most strongly antagonistic character. 

 In one of his impetuous letters to the Times he proposed that any 

 person winning more than £30,000 over one race should forfeit his 

 winnings, and that any member of the Jockey Club who won more 

 than £'5(),00() upon a race should be expelled from that select body. 

 He often declared that as a turf legislator it was his chief wish 

 to })rovide for the best interests of those who, as he phrased it, 

 were "in the £10 line of business." But against those wdio wagered 

 — those who, like Mr. Merry, won £70,000 upon Thormanby ; or, 

 like Sir Joseph Hawley, netted £80,000 upon Beadsman ; or, like 

 Messrs. Naylor and Chaplin, landed resi)e(;tively more than £100,000 

 apiece upon Macaroni and Hermit — against such delinquents, as he 

 deemed them, the admiral's indignation was boundless. " The 

 result," says the writer of the best biographical notice of Admiral 

 Rous that has appeared, " of this often expressed objection to heavy 

 betting was, that when a dispute arose between a gentleman and a 

 bookmaker it was generally conceded that the admiral, if appealed 

 to, unconsciously gave the preference to the latter. It cannot in 

 justice be concealed that probably, without being aware of the weak- 

 ness, he was disposed to court popularity with professional members 



