370 ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



horsemen would be enabled to follow their profession 

 untrammelled with the compulsion of dragging the flesh 

 from off their bones by means of starvation and wasting. 

 We had already seen, in the case of Giles, that an 

 artificial reduction of bodily weight is calculated to 

 unhinge the mind; and had Archer not reduced himself 

 in order to ride St. Mirin for the Cambridgeshire, we 

 might have had him with us now. In all probability 

 he was never more confident of winning a race, and it 

 is certain that he never tried harder. The Cambridge- 

 shire was the only important race he had never won, 

 and his words were singularly prophetic when he 

 observed to Mr. Corlett the evening before, " If I can- 

 not win it to-morrow I will never try again." Poor 

 fellow! a fortnight later he was a corpse. The worldly 

 wealth of which he died possessed was unduly 

 magnified. After paying legacies, of which there were 

 a few, something like 50,000 was left in 3 per cents. 

 to accumulate for " little Nell," who was placed under 

 the guardianship of her aunt, Mrs. Colman. The scene 

 at Archer's grave was a touching one, and so many 

 wreaths had been sent by friends and acquaintances 

 to the house that it is no exaggeration to say that they 

 would have covered an acre of ground. 



One of Archer's bosom friends, and a frequent guest 

 at his table, was a well-known member of the Metro- 

 politan sporting press. A few weeks before his untimely 

 end Archer confessed to this friend that he would have 

 been a happier, richer, and better man if he had never 

 betted a shilling in his life. The fact is well known, 

 even in the face of the Jockey Club ban, that many 

 of our leading jockeys bet heavily. Archer often 

 plunged on his mounts, and the idea became crystallised 

 as an illusory fact that, being so fine a judge of a horse, 



