1835 THE COMMONERS 219 



being a little man and a light weight, made a bet 

 (not of large amount, else perhaps decency would 

 have gone to the wall) that he would carry on his 

 back Lord Chomiondeley, being a big man and a 

 heavy weight, twice round the Steyne at Brighton, 

 in 1795. The story of the wager got about, and a 

 number of ladies assembled to see such sport. Lord 

 Cholmondeley with great confidence essayed to mount, 

 but Sir John slipped away, saying, ' Strip ! ' Lord 

 Cholmondeley turned pale, repeating. ' Strip ! "What 

 the devil do you mean ? ' Said Sir John, ' I betted 

 that I would carry you, not you and your clothes ; 

 your clothes are more than 2 lb. over weight. So 

 make haste and strip ; you are keeping the ladies 

 waiting.' This pointed observation was too much for 

 the noble lord, who was unequal to the occasion and 

 was compelled to acknowledge that he had lost the 

 wager. If it had been possible, Dr. Johnson's opinion 

 as to his young friend's liability to carry clothes upon 

 the occasion would have been worth hearing ; but Sir 

 John had evidently cut his eye-teeth. 



Sir Ferdinando Poole (who won Jockey Club 

 Plates in 1794, 1795, and 1796, with Waxy, Keren- 

 happuch, and Pelter, and the Derby with the illus- 

 trious Waxy, the ' ace of trumps ' of the whole pack 

 of sires, from his time to the time of Touchstone) 

 came of a very ancient family in Cheshire, with seats 

 at Poole, Wirrall, Cheshire, and The Friary, Lewes, 

 Sussex, succeeded Sir Henry in the baronetcy in 



