AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 467 



Lord Durham then rose, and in proposing a vote of 

 thanks to the committee of the Newmarket Subscrip- 

 tion Rooms for having placed the rooms in which the 

 presentation was made at the disposal of the testimonial 

 fund committee, expressed the great pleasure it gave 

 him as a North-countryman to assist at so pleasant a 

 function, and Mr. E. Tattersall having seconded the 

 motion, the proceedings, which throughout were 

 marked by a brisk and business-like brevity, 

 terminated. 



In addition to the cheque for 3600 guineas and 

 illuminated address, Osborne was also presented with 

 an album, in which the names of all the subscribers to 

 the fund were inscribed. Such was the valedictory 

 tribute to his life of unblemished integrity and honour 

 as a horseman. 



John Gully once remarked that during his connec- 

 tion with the Turf he had known but three honest 

 jockeys. In that category he included Frank Buckle, 

 whose initial effort in public was in 1781, and who rode 

 until his sixty-fifth year, a record which exceeds John 

 Osborne's by six years. Buckle up to the last could 

 ride with ease 7 st. 11 Ibs. ; whereas John Osborne at 

 the close of his professional career was compelled to 

 walk great distances to keep himself under 8 st. 10 Ibs. 

 or 8 st. 12 Ibs. Thus the incorruptible Frank (who, 

 the first mount he had, weighed 3 st. 13 Ibs), being 

 under 8 st. to the last, would find his services always 

 in demand up to that weight, which was impossible in 

 John Osborne's case, for during the last two decades 

 of his riding he went to scale considerably above 8 st. 

 No man acquainted with John Osborne, now in 

 his sixty-eighth year, would care to deny that 

 his nerve is much deteriorated; and in this respect 



