LIBEL ON SIR JOSEPH 325 



longer be permitted to have its own way — that the 

 reliance they have heretofore placed on having from him 

 a straight and honest run for their money shall be snapped 

 like a bulrush. If they want an idol, let them seek one 

 elsewhere — for himself, he has tried the square, and, on the 

 whole, prefers the crooked. 



1 Although Dame Nature cannot be said to have been 

 over-prodigal to Sir Joseph in her gifts as regards figure 

 and face — the latter especially being characterised by an 

 exceedingly mean and crafty expression. . . . 



1 Matters prospered well at " Lame 'un Grange," the breed- 

 ing establishment of the wealthy baronet. Derby winners 

 begat Derby winners. . . . Who, therefore, can tell what 

 demon cast his evil eye on the place, and cursed Sir Joseph 

 to become ennnyed with so much success ? Yet so it would 

 appear to be ; and so every one judged to be the case who 

 saw his wretched, discontented, scowling face, as he leaned 

 with his chin on his stick in the Stewards' Stand, and 

 almost cursed his good horse Blackleg as he cantered 

 home a Derby winner, because, forsooth, he had made a 

 mistake, and had backed the stable companions, while he 

 had given the office to lay against the best horse of the 

 present century. 



* . . . but for his own ignorance he might have won a 

 fortune on the horse ; and this was the last straw that 

 broke the camel's back — otherwise Sir Joseph's patience. 

 Shall we say that in his conscience he felt such epithets 

 bestowed on him by the Sporting Press as " fine sports- 

 man," "straightforward," &c, so totally undeserved, that 

 he henceforth took the resolution to prevent, if possible, 

 any such misplaced approbation. Since that time, when- 

 ever any of his horses have been fairly handicapped, the 

 public have been allowed to get well on them, and they 

 have been scratched. Blackleg, backed for pounds, 

 shillings, and pence by the public, runs last in the Cesare- 

 witch and nearly wins the Cambridgeshire when they are 

 not on. Vagrant is tried to be a moral for one of the early 

 spring handicaps, and has the pen put through his name 

 when everything has been got out of him that can be 

 picked up in the market. It is reserved till the Liverpool 

 Cup to place the coping stone to this edifice of coping 

 proceedings. On the appearance of the weights Swindlerite 



