4 KINGSCLERE 



associated. In one of his swiftly vivid sketches of 

 the characteristics of jockeys of the period ' The 

 Druid ' says that ' Marlow was a very nice, but not 

 perhaps a brilliant, horseman, with good hands, very 

 patient, and a most resolute mode of riding his 

 races out. "A race is never won till you're past 

 the post," was his invariable motto ; and hence he 

 always persevered while there was an ounce of 

 squeezing powder left. Few but him could have 

 brought home the Knight of Avenel in the Port, or 

 landed Eltheron and Phlegethon at Ascot. Still, his 

 style, like his seat, was not firm and close ; and his 

 set-to was so high that he often seemed to have the 

 horse's head as well as his own in his hands.' 



In the history of racing, as well as in the 

 chronicles of crime, the name of William Palmer, the 

 poisoner, is inseparable from Rugeley, in which town 

 he resided and practised as a medical man. Rugeley, 

 indeed, had so much cause to loathe the man and 

 the crime which made the town notorious that we 

 were gravely and circumstantially informed of an 

 effort that was made on behalf of the inhabitants to 

 get the name of the place changed. It is a good 

 story, and ought therefore to be true, that when 

 Lord Palmerston was waited upon by a deputation 

 of the protesting inhabitants, he suggested that 

 ' Palmerston ' would be an appropriate substitute. 

 Palmer was the Porters' family doctor. He was 

 accounted very clever in his profession, and, with 

 his cheery, companionable manner, was popular 

 with both patients and friends, of whom he had an 



