1773 THE DUKES 19 



of the exiled Charles the Second and of ' Dutch ' 

 William, of whom the former most certainly, and the 

 latter most probably, would have given countenance 

 to the Jockey Club had it existed in their day. Thus 

 the ' Hero ' or the ' Butcher ' almost redeemed the 

 Hanoverian dynasty from the reproach •which it had 

 incurred for its disregard of horse-racing. The Duke, 

 as is well known, was excluded by political hostility 

 from affairs of State, as far as possible, and so he 

 devoted his undoubtedly great abilities to the Turf 

 and to gambling /ante de mieux. That he was so 

 inveterate a gambler as to ' throw mains ' with a 

 nobleman of like sentiments, when he was out hunt- 

 ing and a check gave an opportunity for a short halt 

 under a tree, cannot perhaps be denied ; but it must 

 be remembered that, as has been pointed out, he 

 lived in a gambling age. He is also said to have 

 fallen among thieves, otherwise 'blacklegs,' at New- 

 market ; but neither Charles the Second with his 

 ' Eoyal mares/ nor Lord Montagu, of Cawdry, Sussex, 

 with his famous ' Montagu mares,' did more than he 

 for the Turf and for horse-breeding. He was Ranger of 

 Windsor Great Park, and may be said to have been the 

 Father of Ascot races (though Queen Anne had raced 

 there) as truly as Chrysippus was said to have been 

 ' the Father of the Porch.' He is set down in 

 Weatherby's ' Calendar' as the earliest recorded winner 

 of the Challenge Whip (with Dumplin in 1764), 

 though, of course, it had often been won before, and 



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