AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 401 



" Good-morning, Master John," responds with a genial, 

 kindly twinkle. Dame Fortune, fickle jade! does not 

 woo the kindly old chap as she did in the days of Lily 

 Agnes and Glastonbury. Is it possible that John 

 Osborne is here without a prominent favourite for the 

 Northumberland Plate under his charge ? Tis truly 

 so; yet the veteran pursues the noiseless tenor of his 

 way, patiently, quietly, unobtrusively, and gentlemanly, 

 waiting for that turn in the wheel which will bring to 

 his stable another bright particular star like the pale- 

 faced chestnut. And yet there are recreants in the 

 world who would class " Master John " in the category 

 of " rogues and vagabonds," for the reason, forsooth, 

 that he is associated with the thoroughbred! If ever 

 the life of " Master John " be written, his character for 

 integrity and nobility will ge blazoned with many acts 

 of real goodness and gentility of heart that will put such 

 maligners to the blush, if shame is part and parcel of 

 the natures of the crew of fanatics who have of late 

 raised an outcry against racing and sportsmen of his 

 type. Lord! if these creatures had the arrangement 

 of mundane affairs, what a world it would be ! Phew ! 

 the sickly wretches are unworthy of notice, were it not 

 that they are leading a blind crew, whose increasing 

 numbers threaten danger not only to a grand institution 

 like the Turf, but to many others upheld and beloved by 

 our forefathers, and handed down to us, dignified by the 

 lapse of years, and rich in stirring memories. Come we 

 now to another of Master John's congeners none other 

 than Harry Hall, who bears his seventy years as gaily 

 as a two-year-old. The other day " Saxon " dipped 

 into the past history of Newcastle races, and inciden- 

 tally ventured the statement that not one of the men 

 whose names appeared on Michael Benson's official 



2D 



