CLAY CHAEACTERIPTICS. 295 



Gcri. Butler, and a two-mile trial, which was a little too hard fcft- the 

 former, says that — 



For a loug time he was George Wilkes no more. He gradually recovered, 

 most of his speed and bottom, hut I think he was ever after a little inclined to 

 sulk, and he never achieved that place upon the topmost pinnacle of fame for 

 which I think he once had capacity. 



Apropos of this incident I may here advert to a remark made to 

 me by an old gentleman two years ago, and before the fact of the 

 Clay cross in this stallion was suggested. He was giving me his per- 

 sonal recollections of the noted stallions of the past and present, 

 having known most of them for nearly fifty years intimately. He 

 characterized Wilkes as a quitter, no doubt, in his own way, referring 

 to this sulking trait, which comes out in the Clay family. I mention 

 this not for the purpose of casting any unfavorable reflection on tho 

 horse, but as an incident corroborative of the evidences now presented 

 that his dam was a daughter of Henry Clay. 



While in the sense referred to by the writer above, Wilkes and all 

 the Clay family were what we call quitters, I reject in toto the iden 

 that it was from any lack of bottom or stamina. It is supposed to 

 have come in with the Surry mare, the dam of Henry Clay, but it was 

 a mental or nerve trait, not an evidence of physical weakness. I have 

 known a son of George M. Patchen that could trot a mile singly in 

 2:35, but let an opponent press him hard, collar him, or get the least 

 advantage over him, and he could not be made to go his mile in 3:35. 

 He was a regular sulker; the sting of defeat, or even its danger, had 

 such an effect on his temper that he viould not trot even if he could. 

 Boston, the great race-horse, did this same thing; so did his grandson, 

 Harry Bassett. I have seen Exchange, a horse owned by John Har- 

 per, do the same way, and he would stop on the track with a rider on 

 his back and refuse to go a single step — rather an uncertain sort of a 

 race-horse, yet he was a fortunate horse in most of his races. But 

 certain it is, that George Wilkes possessed this very peculiar trait 

 for which the Clay family have been noted; and while it is a deeply 

 seated mental trait of very lasting character, and one that does not 

 recommend any family in itself, the Clay family in general and Wilkes 

 in particular, have displayed a degree of excellence that takes most of 

 the edge from this objection, however serious it may be. 



I will say that, to my mind, the evidences are quite satisfactory, 

 that the dam of George Wilkes was a daughter of Henry Clay. The 

 superior qualities of that mare and of her own dam have all been 



