SPORTING EVENTS 63 



guineas with Sir B. Graham about the performance in 

 three and a half hours of the journey from Brighton 

 to Westminster Bridge, mounted upon one of the blood 

 horses that usually ran in his phaeton. He accom- 

 plished the ride in three hours twenty minutes, knocking 

 the Prince's up record into the proverbial cocked hat. 

 The rider stopped a while at Reigate to take a glass or 

 two of wine, and compelled his horse to swallow the 

 remainder of the bottle. 



This spirited affair was preceded in April, 1793, by 

 a curious match which seems to deserve mention. 

 A clergyman at Brighton betted an officer of the 

 Artillery quartered there 100 guineas that he would 

 ride his own horse to London sooner than the officer 

 could go in a chaise and pair, the officer's horses to 

 be changed en route as often as he might think proper. 

 The Artilleryman accordingly despatched a servant to 

 provide relays, and at twelve o'clock on an unfavourable 

 night the parties set out to decide the bet, which was 

 won by the clergyman with difficulty. He arrived in 

 town at 5 a.m., only a few minutes before the chaise, 

 which it had been thought was sure of winning. The 

 driver of the last stage, however, nearly became stuck 

 in a ditch, which mishap caused considerable delay. 

 The Cuckfield driver performed his nine-miles' stage, 

 between that place and Crawley, within the half-hour. 



The next outstanding incident was the run of the 

 " Red Rover ' coach, which, leaving the " Elephant 

 and Castle ' at 4 p.m. on June 19th, 1831, reached 

 Brighton at 8.21 that evening : time, four hours twenty- 

 one minutes. The fleeting era of those precursors of 

 motor-cars, the steam-carriages, had by this time 

 arrived, and after two or three had managed, at some 

 kind of a slow pace, to get to and from Brighton, the 

 " Autopsy ' achieved a record of sorts in October, 

 1833. " Autopsy " was an unfortunate name, sugges- 

 tive of post-mortem examinations and " crowner's 

 quests," but it proved not more dangerous than the 

 " Mors " or " Hurtu " cars of to-day. The " Autopsy " 

 was Walter Hancock's steam-carriage, and ran from 



