1773 THE MISTERS 143 



Bloomsbury Square. Mr. Vernon married the 

 Countess-Dowager of Upper Ossory in 1759, and died 

 in 1800, at the great age of 85. One of his daughters 

 married Lord Warwick, and another Mr. Robert 

 Percy Smith. Mrs. E. P. Smith was the mother of 

 the Pit. Hon. Mr. Vernon Smith, of munificent me- 

 mory. About ' Mr. Vernon, the jockey,' Horace Wal- 

 pole tells a curious story to illustrate ' the honour of 

 the young men of the age.' Mr. Vernon, in 1752, 

 was proposed for ( Old ' White's Club, and was black- 

 balled, though of the twelve members present eight 

 had promised him their votes, and after the ballot ten 

 1 assured him on their honour that they had put in 

 white balls.' It must be concluded that the remaining 

 two were his own proposer and seconder : so that the 

 result was certainly curious. 



Mr. Warde (or Ward, for so sometimes, but appa- 

 rently contrary to orthography, it is spelt) must have 

 been the gentleman who ran Habit for a Jockey Club 

 Plate in 1760 ; Fairplay for a Jockey Club Plate in 

 1767; and Cleaver (by Warde's, or Ward's, Arabian) 

 for a Jockey Club Plate in 1772 ; and he again must 

 have been John Warde, Esq., of Squerries (where 

 Warde's, or Ward's, Arabian stood in 1767), Kent. 

 He was the father of * glorious John ' Warde (who 

 was probably and inferentially, but not quite demon- 

 strably, himself a member of the Jockey Club, and 

 ran the significantly named Adieu-to-the-Turf at Can- 

 terbury in 1778, meaning, apparently, that he would 



