"'SCEPTRE' WINS!" 



675 



to one man when Comedy was successful. Himself the very, embodiment of fair 

 dealing, he had enormous sums standing as bad debts in his books, and his charity 

 was unending, not only in Dulwich, but for the hospital in Reel Lion Square, which 

 he had practically created. But two other names, even more famous than those 

 already given, were on the same year's fatal roll those of Captain Machell and 

 of Colonel Harry McCalmont. These cannot be passed over with so slight a 

 mention. 



Captain James Octavius Machell was born in 1838 at Beverley, in Yorkshire, 

 and the love for horseflesh he absorbed with his native air is reflected in the 

 fact that he retired from the 29th Regiment in 1863, either because he could 

 not get leave to see the 

 St. Leger, or because 

 it was ordered to India, 

 and he thought he 

 could "do better at 

 home." At the First 

 Spring Meeting of 1864 

 he had already made 

 his mark by winning 

 the Prince of Wa'les's 

 Handicap Stakes of 

 ,1,140 (and a bet of 

 ,5,000 to ;ioo) with 

 his Irish colt Bacchus. 

 One of his first appear- 

 ances at Newmarket was when he beat Captain Chad wick in a hundred yards 

 foot-race over the Severals at Newmarket. Sir John Astley was an appro- 

 priate spectator of a contest that recalled the old days as vividly as did 

 " The Mate's " own match with Mr. Alexander. I have reproduced Sir John's 

 portrait from Millais' painting, by the courtesy of his son ; but I have been 

 glad to add to it the characteristic figure of "The Mate" on Drumhead, 

 6 yrs., i6st. 6lb., when he beat Mr. Alexander on Briglia, i6st., for 500 

 sovereigns, over a mile and a half at Newmarket in July, 1879. It is a figure 

 which will not only recall a beloved friend to many, but which is typical of an 

 old and breezily sportsmanlike regime that seems to be passing away ; just as 



"EKzabethM? (1898, U.S.A.}. 



