AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 345 



upon the thoroughness which marked the training of 

 the lads at Ashgill under the Osbornes. 



Singularly enough, although he had made many an 

 essay, it had never fallen to the lot of our hero to ride 

 the winner of the Northumberland Plate. Well can 

 we recall Stone Clink's victory in 1886, and the scene 

 on the famous Gosforth enclosure in early morning. 

 Morning gallops in these days of quick transit by train 

 are a thing of the past, but, as showing how they have 

 departed, and attempting to paint the scene, let us take 

 the reader at break of day into the Park. Old James 

 Colpitts, who had seen fifty Northumberland Plates, 

 could tell many wonderful tales about the so-called 

 " Pitman's Derby." The veteran drove the Newcastle 

 coach in the good old days, and was mine host at the 

 Grand Stand for many years. When the races were held 

 on the Town Moor, we had listened to his story about 

 how his Satanstone was beaten for the Cesarewitch, in 

 what was the first race Jim Snowden then a feather- 

 weight rode at Newmarket. A world of pleasure was 

 derived from the old times on the Moor, with its long 

 row of marquees and tents spread out, its gipsy encamp- 

 ments, its real old-fashioned racecourse appearance. 

 But all that is absent at Gosforth nowadays, whether 

 for the better or for worse one need not attempt to 

 decide. Let the reader imagine himself in the lovely 

 Gosforth demesne at four o'clock in the morning. How 

 fresh and beautiful Nature is! The distant smoke of 

 the " coaly toon " rises like a pall over its yet-sleeping 

 citizens, and, though the business of morning gallopists 

 is not exactly congenial to our taste, we are thankful 

 that Nature, dressed as she is in her brightest summer 

 vestments, creates a feeling of delight which com- 



