242 THE JOCKEY CLUB 1773— 



Crimea) in company with the notorious Margravine 

 of Anspach (ex-Lady Craven), and is understood to 

 have published an account of his travels, as also did 

 Her Highness (for whom Horace Walpole was * printer 

 in ordinary ' at Strawberry Hill) . Mr. Walker is 

 entitled to further notice because he is supposed to be 

 identical with the Thomas Walker, Esq., of Mickle- 

 ham, Surrey, who in August 1773 rode a cruel match 

 for 400 guineas from London to York on his hackney 

 (said to have died within six miles of Tadcaster) 

 against a Captain Mulcaster on his mare (which 

 drank twelve bottles of wine on the road, finished the 

 task, and was quite well after two days' rest), when 

 the first ninety miles were ridden in six hours, and 

 when, after the match was over, some severe strictures 

 were made in the papers of the day on the cruelty 

 and uselessness of such performances (unless, of 

 course, you are a Dick Turpin riding your Black Bess 

 for life, liberty, and a place in fiction) ; and because 

 he was probably a son or nephew of the ' old Tom 

 Walker ' at whom Horace Walpole sneers in his 

 * Letters ' (1748) as ' a surveyor of roads, a kind of 

 toad-eater to Sir Bobert Walpole and Lord Godolphin, 

 a great frequenter of Newmarket ' (not unnaturally, as 

 there is mention made in the ' State Papers ' of a 

 ' Thomas Walker, housekeeper of Her Majesty's house 

 at Newmarket'), 'and a notorious usurer' (as other 

 1 horsey ' gentlemen have been, like the late Mr. Pad- 

 wick, who, according to Admiral Bous, played ' spider ' 



