222 " MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE ! " 



securities of a more tangible character. I had also been 

 made a director of the Company, which pleased me vastly, 

 though my reason for pleasure may have been no more 

 satisfactory than that of the man who is married for his 

 money. I was the youngest member of the Board. Sir 

 Charles Legard was the chairman, and there were several 

 older men, including Captain Patrick. Lord Charles Ker, 

 who had been instrumental in retaining the yearling, 

 Bella, for the Company, in 1874, was the nearest approach 

 to me in point of age, and I shall not offend him by adding 

 that he was no more businesslike than I was. 



They were halcyon days indeed, and before Ascot 

 that summer we were offered Doncaster and Marie Stuart, 

 with their engagements, for 8000 guineas. It was resolved 

 to buy them, and then the solicitor of the Company 

 after the manner of solicitors interposed obstacles. 

 We had no right under the Articles of Association to run 

 horses. I suggested that they might run in the name of 

 a director ; but then the old men raised the question of 

 personal responsibility in the event of accident. There 

 was no horse insurance in those days, and so it happened 

 that I, though anxious to take the risks, was overborne, 

 and this astounding bargain was suffered to lapse. It 

 would have changed the whole future of British blood- 

 stock, as we know it, had the purchase been completed. 



When Ascot came on, Marie Stuart won the Gold Vase, 

 and Doncaster the Cup and Alexandra Plate each race 

 with great ease. I can see him now, striding past the 

 stands in the finish for the Plate, with his tongue lolloping 

 out of his mouth on the near side and flopping up and 

 down with every stride. This peculiarity was handed 

 down to many of his descendants, and it must always be 

 arguable whether Orme did not owe his supposed poisoning 

 to working his tongue over a decayed tooth. 



The Cobham sale was on the I2th June 1875, the 

 Saturday of Ascot, as always, and it was a very notable 

 one in many ways to me, for instance, because I there 

 saw for the first time my future wife, on a coach at the 



