A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH TURF. 



in the three kingdoms : in Ireland for his munificence and hospitality as Viceroy ; 

 in Scotland for his burning patriotism ; in England as the soul of honour in 

 her greatest sport. 



George Payne, another famous Turfite, though a very different man, began life 

 with prospects almost as brilliant as those of Lord Eglinton. As large-hearted, 

 as rich, as chivalrous, as talented, " G. P." gave up all the ambitions which had 

 stirred the young Montgomerie's soul, and deliberately devoted life, health, and 

 fortune to racing, hunting, and cards. Yet he never did a thing he justly could 

 feel ashamed of, and he was beloved by all who knew him, from the Queen 

 downwards. A man's life and his money are, after all, his own. George Payne 



recognised no higher 



r court, nor should the 



reader who is trying 

 % ^j to imagine him. He 



"^^V. . ,*^^&^3 ^fl^ 



was sent down from 

 Christchurch, and he 

 lost ,33,000, when he 

 was only twenty, over 

 Jerry s Leger, a disaster 

 he took with all Charles 

 Fox's coolness, only 

 retiring to bed in his 

 Doncaster lodgings to 

 avoid giving wiser men 

 the pain of looking at 



a fool. He got back ,12,000 of it, by Mr. Gully's advice, on Memnon the 

 next year. Until Charles Greville helped him, he was invariably unlucky with 

 his own horses ; and he thought his hair was turning grey when his mare 

 Welfare, backed for the merest trifle, once looked like beating the famous 

 Crucifix, on whom he had betted thousands for the Oaks. One of his best 

 horses never carried his own colours, for Lord Glasgow bequeathed him Musket, 

 and the horse always ran in the old white and crimson. When Lord Lyon 

 won the Derby, Payne stood to win nearly ,50,000 on Lord Ailesbury's Savernake, 

 and Cremorne wiped out almost as much when Pell Mell was beaten later 

 on. The only classic victory he scored was the One Thousand with Clementina, 



By permission of Leopold de Kothschild, p.sq. 



' Lord Lyon." 



