AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 193 



Pretender included. A plausible argument, forsooth! 

 but not to be supported by the solid arbitrament of fact. 

 But " all Yorkshire," as well as Johnnie Osborne, 

 was on Pretender's back for the Derby of '69. The 

 poet and prophet of the period sang 



" But north and south are arming for the fray, 



The lists are cleared, and lo ! the warrior band, 

 Oh, happy man, 'Johnnie' leads the way, 



' Pero ' and Belladrum on either hand. 

 Haply, the names recorded thus may stand, 



When the fight is over and the ti'ophy won ; 

 The victor's name runs flashing through the land, 



And louder yet and rougher grows the fun, 

 As London homeward streams beneath the setting sun. 



" So may ' The Riband's ' deathless sheen 

 Upon the victor's breast be seen 

 Of undistinguishable hue 

 From that bright vest of bonnie blue 



Yet ne'er to fade away. 

 And bells at Middleham awake 

 The echoes of the moor and brake 

 With one more peal for Johnnie's sake, 



To keep the festal day." (" AMPHION.") 



At length the day of battle arrived, the sun shining 

 upon the scene and lending enchantment to the view. 

 Pretender was accompanied by his stable companions, 

 Thorwaldsen and Lord Hawthorn, Thorwaldsen having 

 a raw place the size of a man's hand over his hip bone, 

 caused by his getting thrown in his box. The " crack " 

 had Tom Dawson's best polish on him, and passed satis- 

 factorily through paddock inspection. Mr. Graham 

 watched with intense satisfaction his beloved Drummer, 

 fearing nothing and looking at nothing else. He had 

 backed his horse at all sorts of prices from a thousand 

 to one and five hundred to one downwards, so that he 

 stood to win forty thousand pounds to a mere flea-bite. 



