THE RKIGN Uf QUEEN ANNE AND Hl-.R INFLUENCE ON RACING. 185 



had been added to this list. They printed hardly any domestic news except the 



sailing of ships or bringing in of prizes, and their exiguous notices of sporting matters 



have been freely used in these pages. Their chief business was to provide the Collet: 



Houses with matter for discussion concerning Foreign Politics. The " Essay Papers " 



of which the "Taller," " Spectator," and "Guardian" were Steele's creation, were of 



course of a different quality. The newspaper stamp of August i, 1712, dealt death 



and destruclion to Grub Slreel ; bul the best survived, and the " Spectator " (even 



after raising its price to twopence) appeared regularly upon the Royal breakfast 



table. In spite of all their deficiencies the newspapers of the time have supplied 



many interesting details of matches on the Turf in these early days, though none of 



their readers could have suspected the enormous revolutions in the whole system of 



Racing which has been caused by the developments of the modern Sporting Press. 



In the days of Oueen Anne we may be fairly sure that no owner cared what the papers 



said, and that no betting anywhere w;is affected by their meagre articles. \Ye are 



indeed probably far more interested than was its first purchaser to read the lisl of 



matches in " News from Newmarket, or an Accounl of the Horses Matched to Run 



there in March, April 



and May 1/04, the 



\Veighls, Miles, 



Wages and Forfeils. 



Printed for John Null 



near Stationers Hall 



Price Twopence." 



From such sources as 



ihis we find, in 1702, 



lhal Lord Godol- 



phin's horse beal Mr. 



Harvey's for 3,000 ; 



or that the Duke of 



Devonshire beal the 



Earl of Argyle at 



the same game, "by 



which Mr. Pheasant got a considerable sum." In 1703 the Duke of Argyle was 



more fortunate in winning "the great horse race at Newmarket" against the Lord 



Treasurer for a thousand guineas. The " London Gazette " of the same year for May, 



The Duke of Devonshire's " Ba .\/i>.'' 



Bypermution of U.K. II. Prince Ckritlian. 



