20 " MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE ! " 



the 2, 53. until you remit. By so doing I have left myself 

 destitute. As a general thing I have kept myself most opulent 

 by judicious betting. I backed Scottish Queen for the One 

 Thousand, and Pretender for the Derby. By the last transaction 

 I won 3, i os. from Mr Denman, but lost i, zos. of it by back- 

 ing Scottish Queen for the Oaks. Altogether, however, I have 

 cleared a nice round sum and paid all my bills, save one, and 

 that, the man, being of a mild and gentle disposition, has neglected 

 to send in although I told him to do so. 

 Yours affectionately, 



W. ALLISON. 



Scottish Queen was backed solely because she was by 

 Blair Athol. Mr Denman, referred to above, was a well- 

 known commission agent and originator of a " system " 

 which for a time worked well. 



Now, so far, the moral decadence which is supposed to 

 result from betting had not got hold of me, for this is the 

 last report of me written by good old Dr Temple when lie 

 quitted the headmastership of Rugby to become Bishop 

 of Exeter : 



RUGBY 

 SIXTH FORM 

 Report jov term ending Xmas 1869 



ALLISON 

 Doing very well. 



In all ways satisfactory, but I fear that his health keeps him 

 much back. F. EXON. 



As to the health question, more anon, and I pass to 

 what the " unco guid " might deem a dreadful outbreak : 



RUGBY, June 1870. 

 DEAR POLLY, 



I dare say you don 't know who won the Derby in which 

 case I may as well tell you that Kingcraft did, to the utter astonish- 

 ment of everybody and the great delight of me, who had put a 

 small sum on him a month or two ago at remunerative odds and 

 won 20, which, minus commission, came to 19, 23. He is the 

 only horse I backed and so I lost nothing. 



In consequence we had an orgy last night in honour of King- 

 craft. There were, as usual, five of us, and we had a beautiful 



