PREFACE. 



IN May 1865 I returned to England, after passing 

 nine years, almost without intermission, in the 

 United States of America. Shortly after my 

 arrival in London, I met an old friend (now de- 

 ceased) who asked me to come and dine with him 

 a day or two later at the Windham Club, in St 

 James's Square. On repairing to that hospitable 

 resort, I found that the only guest besides myself 

 was the still living Mr James Weatherby. Natur- 

 ally I had much to ask him about the incidents 

 connected with horse-racing which had happened 

 since he and I last met, nine or ten years before. 

 Among other questions, I inquired who was now 

 the Dictator of the Turf. " Since I last saw you," 

 Mr Weatherby replied, " there have been two or 

 three Dictators, such as Sir Joseph Hawley and 

 Admiral Rous ; but from the day when I first knew 



