142 A HISTOR1' OF THE ENGLISH TURF. 



when Frampton had brought his cocking to a triumphant conclusion by winning 

 " 13 of the 17 battles of the match between him and Mr. Row." 



There really seems to be no possibility of outdoor or indoor wagering that 

 Frampton did not try. From 1713 to 1726 there are traces of his matches with 

 mules on Newmarket Heath, a grotesque fashion revived by Lady Lade's husband, 

 but unworthy of any further record. 



It will, perhaps, help to complete what must necessarily be an imperfect portrait, 

 if I quote the impressions of a visitor to Newmarket in the reign of Queen Anne, 

 especially as it is possible to detect in one of his phrases, what may well be a 

 beginning of those fabrications which Dr. Hawkesworth published in No. 37 of the 

 "Adventurer," some forty years afterwards. 



" Being there in October," says our descriptive traveller, " I had the opportunity 

 to see the horse races, and a great concourse of the nobility and gentry, as well from 

 London as all parts of England ; but they were all so intent, so eager, so busy upon 

 the sharping part of the sport, their wagers, their bets, that to me they seemed just 

 as so many horse-coursers in Smithfield, descending, the greatest of them, from their 

 high dignity and quality, to the picking one another's pockets, and biting one another 

 as much as possible, and that with so much eagerness as it might be said they acted 

 without respect to faith, honour, or good manners. 



" There was Mr. Frampton, the oldest, and, as they say, the cunningest jockey 

 in England ; one day he lost 1,000 gns., the next he won 2,000, and so alternately." 



These are the words that suggest to me some slight excuse for the Hawkes- 

 worth legend. But to continue 



" He made as light of throwing away^oo or ,1,000 at a time as other men do 

 of their pocket money, and was perfectly calm, cheerful, and unconcerned when he 

 had lost a thousand pounds as when he won it. 



" On the other side, there was Sir F. Ragg, of Sussex, of whom fame says he 

 has the most in him and the least to show for it, relating to jockeyship, of any man 

 there ; yet he often carried off the prize. His horses they say were all cheats, how 

 honest soever their master was, for he scarcely ever produced a horse but he looked 

 like what he was not, and was what nobody could expect him to be. If he was as 

 light as the wind and could fly like a meteor, he was sure to look as clumsy and 

 as dirty and as much like a cart horse as all the cunning of his master and the 

 grooms could make him ; and just in this manner, he hit some of the greatest 

 gamesters in the field." 



