1773 THE MISTEES 139 



by Mr. Leedes, of North Milford, Yorkshire. Mr. 

 Swinburne bred Sprightly (sire of Pyrrhus), whose 

 fate resembled that of Mr. I' Anson's celebrated Queen 

 Mary, and was not unlike that of the once despised 

 Marske (till he begot Eclipse) and of Squirt (sire of 

 Marske and Syphon, after narrowly escaping being 

 shot as worthless) ; for Sprightly, at seventeen years 

 of age (in 1771, the very year in which Pyrrhus first 

 appeared at Newmarket and began his victorious 

 career), was sold for ten guineas to a miller (who used 

 him as a cadging horse), was repurchased by Mr. 

 Swinburne (after the appearance of Pyrrhus) for 

 twelve guineas, and a fortnight afterwards had 500 

 guineas offered for him, which Mr. Swinburne refused. 

 Pyrrhus, however, like Mark Anthony, Conductor, 

 Pantaloon, and, in more modern times, Melbourne 

 and Touchstone, was a ' first foal ' (against which 

 there is still some unreasonable prejudice), and may 

 have been more indebted to his clam (a Snip mare) 

 than to his sire for the excellence he displayed. In 

 any case, there was much reason in the remark of 

 the philosopher who propounded that * Natur's a 

 rum un.' 



* Mr. Swymmer, who won a Jockey Club Plate with 

 Standby (son of Shepherd's Crab) in 1758, and thus 

 proved his membership of the Jockey Club, was 

 Anthony Langley Swymmer, Esq., M.P. for South- 

 ampton, and one of the ' West Indians ' apparently, 

 for he died in Jamaica in 1760. He was fairly great 



