264 " MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE ! " 



Spence's letter. Messrs Chapman & Hall, without any 

 demur, agreed to publish it, and it came out in a three- 

 volume edition, all of which was disposed of within a 

 fortnight. This was remunerative enough, and I, later on, 

 by the advice of Mr Chapman, sold the book to Messrs 

 Routledge, who did many editions of it as a yellow-back, 

 with a portrait of Blair Athol, by Sturgess, on the front 

 cover. 



My attendance in the Law Courts now grew slacker, 

 for I seemed to have found a quicker way of making the 

 necessary income, and about this time I was introduced 

 to Edward Legge, of The Whitehall Review, and cheerfully 

 undertook to write a sporting article for that paper and 

 to help him generally with any amount of other matter 

 that might be required. The World and Truth used to 

 revile The Whitehall Review, principally because it was 

 financed by an egg merchant, but Legge was a thoroughly 

 capable editor and I learned a very great deal from 

 him. 



It almost invariably happens when anyone writes 

 about racing for the first time he selects winners in 

 remarkable fashion, and I was no exception to this rule, 

 insomuch that my successes attracted the attention of 

 Willoughby Maycock (now Sir), and that was how I first 

 came to know him. He wrote to ask me to do the weekly 

 leader for a little paper he was bringing out, and this I 

 gladly undertook. 



As for The Whitehall Review, I became really interested 

 in that paper and had now, of course, resumed my visits 

 to the principal races. Never did I see such an astound- 

 ing result as when Bend Or beat Robert the Devil for the 

 Derby of that year. It was really almost incredible 

 to anyone who had a good broadside view of them from 

 the hill, for Robert the Devil was like a hare running away 

 from a lot of terriers until there came that paralysing 

 finish. 



On the Bend Or-Tadcaster objection which followed I 

 wrote the following for the Whitehall : 



