130 THE POST AND THE PADDOCK. 



was so convinced that his "waiting" orders to Sam 

 were wrong, that he immediately challenged Lord 

 Glasgow to run him, at the same weights, for a 

 thousand guineas a-side over Doncaster. His offer 

 was, however, declined, although the subsequent 

 running of both the horses, with Florismart, there, 

 showed that there was very little between them. 

 Early in 1827, Memnon left the Raby training- 

 stables for Newmarket, and arrived at the Chifney's 

 along with Abron, who had been purchased for 

 450 guineas at Mr. RusselPs sale, on purpose to lead 

 gallops for him. In the Ascot Cup of that year, he 

 triumphed over some very mean opponents ; but at 

 Doncaster he fell before the prowess of Fleur-de-lis 

 (a fine lengthy mare, with well-let-down quarters 

 and big hips), and then ran a dead heat with her for 

 second place in the Cup to Mulatto, when Actseon, 

 Starch, Longwaist, and Tarrare figured among the 

 glorious slain. The Craven Meeting of 1828 saw 

 him give in, dead beat, at the Turn of the Lands, in 

 the Oatlands, and the turf knew him no more. He 

 returned to Raby as a stud-horse, for a few seasons, 

 before he crossed the Atlantic ; but King Cole is the 

 only winner of note that he left behind him, and he, 

 too, is dead now, and The Mummy alone remains. 



Memnon was far from being a solitary instance of 

 Lord Darlington's fancy for high-priced horses: and, 

 as is invariably the case, the bloom was off the peach 

 before it came into his hands, and nothing but dis- 

 appointment was the result. In short, he carried 

 his whim to such a height, that he is said to have 

 invested the half of a 20,000 lottery prize, which 

 he had shared with Mr. Heeley, in four or five 

 horses, which hardly produced him as many shillings 

 in stakes. No one, too, could ever tell why he set 

 his mind on Mr. Batson's Serab ; and Will Chifney 

 in vain endeavoured to impress on him that the 

 horse was a clumsy, unsatisfactory animal, who was 



