398 RACING CAREER OF SIR W. H. GREGORY. 



when he asked me at Egham Races whether that 

 was not the place where the field beat King John. 

 You dwell rightly upon one remarkable trait in 

 his character to wit, that all his sympathies were 

 with the gentlemen. Nothing pleased him more 

 than when they had a good race. His reflections 

 on the use of the Turf to British society, as a 

 safety-valve for the lower orders, were excellent, 

 and full of wisdom." 



The second letter to which I have alluded above 

 has reference to the authorship of ' The Chaunt 

 of Achilles,' which was published anonymously in 

 'The Sporting Magazine' in 1838, shortly after 

 her Majesty's Coronation. 



" I have in my possession," writes Sir William, 

 "a copy of 'The Chaunt of Achilles,' with the 

 inscription, ' By Bernal Osborne, Jun.,' written 

 on its back. Below are the words, ( Got fifteen 

 guineas from Editor for this.' I am convinced from 

 internal evidence that no one but a member of 

 West-End society could have written it. It is 

 impossible that Surtees, a north-country attorney, 

 could have known all the gossip to which it refers. 

 The style, moreover, in which it is written affords 

 another proof of its authorship, for the versifica- 

 tion is exactly similar to that of ' The Voice from 

 Palace Yard/ which is admittedly Bernal Osborne's 

 composition/' 



