HISTORY OF THE LINLITHGOW 



that he ' could hardly be abused into a trot,' and 

 to coax him out of a trot into a canter was quite 

 out of Noble's power. There was nothing for it 

 but to cover him up from nose to tail in his box, 

 till the sweat fairly poured off him, and he was 

 so fresh two or three days afterwards that he 

 positively ' wanted to go shopping on his road to 

 the course, and not through the shop-door either.' 

 Still he settled down at the post, and if Mickleton 

 Maid had not mettled him up so tremendously by 

 the pace she made for Hetman PlatofF, to whom he 

 gave 11 lbs.. Noble could never have driven him 

 in a sharp finish with such a speedy customer as 

 ' Bowes's Bay.' This was the maiden year of the 

 two great stakes, and although some high weights 

 and those three -year -olds have run close up for 

 them since, neither of them has been won, [except 

 by Lanercost], at 8 st. 9 lbs. Lord George might 

 well say, ' What a wonderful animal he is ! he 

 neither sweats nor blows ! ' " ^ 



Two years later Lanercost was sold by Mr Ram- 

 say to Mr Kirby, and while the evening of his 

 days was passed at Chantilly,^ it is said that his 

 bones lie at Barnton.^ A most devoted friendship 

 existed between the horse and a dog, which kept 

 him company in his stall at I' Anson's. Before the 



1 'Scott and Sebright,' by The Druid, 1862, ix 189 et seq. 



2 Ibid., p. 191. 



3 Fores' ' Sporting Notes and Sketches,' vol. xvii., 1900—" The Cradle- 

 Land of the Dawsons " by Rockwood. 



142 



