372 ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



horse racing. In the Jubilee year, Dick Marsh, the 

 trainer, was once accosted by the Duchess at New- 

 market. "Wdl, Marsh," she asked, "what wiU win 

 these two races to-day? " mentioning a couple of events. 

 " Well, your Grace," said Marsh, naming two horses he 

 fancied, "I think So-and-So will win the first, and 

 So-and-So the second." "But," retorted the peeress, 

 "these are newspaper tips," and she turned away 

 superciliously. It so happened that the two horses 

 named by Marsh won their respective races in a canter. 

 The following day the Duchess again asked him, 

 "What will win these two races to-day?" With a 

 touch of waggish humour Marsh replied, "Oh, your 

 Grace, I haven't seen the newspapers to-day and can't 

 tell you." The late Major Egerton was a man of 

 enormous proportions, weighing certainly over twenty 

 stones avoirdupois. On one occasion he did not please 

 the Duchess by the weight he gave one of her horses. 

 The Major got it straight the next day, as follows: 

 " I think, Major, you have been handicapping my horse 

 to ride him yourself." 



Quartus, by Tertius, out of Chaos, was bred by John 

 Osborne at Brecongill in 1887. He was so very 

 handsome and promising as a yearling that old 

 Harry Hall, who was then the occupant of Spigot 

 Lodge, which is only a stone's throw from Brecongill, 

 cast longing eyes upon him. Harry wanted to 

 buy him in the spring as a yearling, but was 

 choked off when John asked 300. Not wishful 

 to disclose his hand, Harry repeatedly was at 

 John to sell during the succeeding twelve months, 

 each time the question was asked the price going up, 

 Harry as often ridiculing the idea of the yearling being 

 worth so much. From 300 the price gradually rose to 



