THE JOCKEY CLUB IN THE DAYS OF CHARLES JAMES FOX. 



headed by " George P. (3)," and after him are written Bolton, Earl of 

 Abingdon (3), Foley (i), Thos. Bullock (2), Tho. Douglas (i), Grosvenor (3), 

 Chartris (2), Wm. Davis (i). Derby (2), D. O'Kelly (3), Sherborne (3), 

 Boringdon (i), M. Lade (i), Tho. Panton (3), T. Charles Bunbury (i), 

 Grafton (i), F. Dawson (i), Clermont (2), Egremont (3), Charles Wyndham (2). 

 It is a good epitome of the racing men of the period, and the renewal of 

 the stakes in 1789 shows Lord Grosvenor's name again, with that of 

 Lord Belgrave, who signed for Sir L. Haggerston. The same family sent 

 General Grosvenor and Mr. Thomas 

 Grosvenor to support the Turf as well. 

 On the second list appear the additional 

 names of C. J. Fox, G. W. Cavendish, 

 Rd. Vernon, Barrymore, and Bedford. 

 It is not possible here to enter upon 

 so complicated a subject as the demerits 

 of " George P." But it is only fair to 

 say that when he first went racing, he 

 was nothing worse than a foolish (though 

 by no means stupid) young man ; reck- 

 less, high-spirited, already selfish, and 

 a little shifty, but still capable of generous 

 acts, anxious to be popular and keen to 

 do everything. He had been hardly 

 brought up, and he was eager to enjoy 

 himself, self-consciously but not un- 

 worthily ambitious to be a universal 

 patron. The Turf has had more sinister 

 figures on it than this one. 



From such slight sketches of character as the above, the reader, helped out by 

 his own imagination, may reconstruct in some measure the atmosphere of the Turf 

 and the sort of society which supported it in the eighteenth century. Then, as now, 

 there was a small racing set, and a large set which took racing as one of 

 many enjoyments or functions. The difference is that of these men a goodly pro- 

 portion threw themselves, like " Old O." or Lord Barrymore, with greater energy and 

 publicity into the life of pleasure than anyone can do now. The tone was louder, 

 VOL. n. o o 



Tli* Seventh Earl of Barrym^re 

 tallting'to a friend (1/91). 



