THE TURF. 
that the once accomplished owner of it became the 
tenant of a premature grave. " The bowl of pleasure," 
said Johnson, "is poisoned by reflection on the cost;" 
and here it was drunk to the dregs. Colonel Hellish 
ended his days, not in poverty, for he acquired a 
competency with his lady, but in a small house within 
sight of the mansion that had been the pride of his 
ancestors and himself. As, however, the wind is tem- 
pered to the shorn lamb, Colonel Hellish was not 
without consolation; he never wronged any one but 
himself, and, as an owner of race-horses and a bettor, 
his character was without spot. 
Among other leading sportsmen of the turf, now no 
more, were the late Duke of Grafton, and Douglass, 
Duke of Hamilton. The Duke of Grafton was a keen 
sportsman, and an excellent judge of racing ; and his 
horses having been well and honestly ridden by South, 
he was among the few great winners amongst great 
men. It is somewhat singular that the success of the 
Grafton stud may be traced to one mare, and therefore 
the history of her is worth relating. In 1756, Julia, by 
Blank, was bred by Hr. Panton, of great Newmarket 
fame (her pedigree running back not only to Bay Bolton, 
Darley's Arabian, and the Byerly Turk, but beyond the 
Lord Protector's White Turk, generally the ne plus ultra 
of pedigrees, to the Taffolet Barb, and the Natural Barb 
mare), and at seven years old was put into the duke's 
stud, and produced Promise, by Snap, Promise produced 
Prunella, by Highflyer, the dam of eleven first-rate 
181 
