DANEBURY DAYS 



trod the difficult paths of the Turf, and that, 

 if he failed in his avowed determination to 

 " break the Ring " — a feat akin to the discovery of 

 the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life — 

 he approached it more nearly than any one else 

 has ever done. I cannot better close this chapter 

 than by reproducing his memoir, from the pen 

 of " The Druid," which appeared in the columns 

 of the Daily News : — 



" The EarPs year "" has reached a sad climax in the death 

 of its leading actor. The Spider and the Fly drama is ended. 

 That poor coroneted youth who had crowded into six years 

 more Corinthian excitement, and weightier Turf cares than 

 many " fast men " know in a lifetime, has laid down his 

 weary load. He was only twenty-six in July, and he had 

 frittered away two fine family estates. Betting is said to be 

 the touchstoiie of the Englishmans sincerity, but with the 

 Marquis a craving for the odds had really become a disease. 

 He worshipped chance with all the ardour of a fanatic. His 

 wits were, he considered, worth to him in the betting ring 

 at least o£'20,000 a year, and he sometimes threaded his way 

 through the mazes of trials and public running with all the 

 sagacity of a wizard. His public coups were often so brilliant 

 that it was hardly to be wondered at that he believed in his 

 own destiny, and his powers to break the ring. He cared 

 little whether the draining or other improvements on his 

 Donington estate were stopped, if he only got fresh supplies 

 for another Newmarket campaign. The ring, on the other 

 hand, had marked him for their own, and never left him. 

 They would cluster beneath the Jockey Club balcony at 

 Epsom, holding up their hands to claim his attention, and 

 catching at his replies like a flock of hungry hawks. There 

 he would stand smiling at the wild tumult below, wearing 

 his hat jauntily on one side, a red flower in his button-hole, 

 and his colours round his neck, and cool and calm, while 

 " the talent " made his horse a " hot favourite " at once, and 

 a few slipped back to the ring to follow his lead. For a time 

 he was a perfect Cocker ; but he fell at last in the unequal 

 strife, and the men who had " drawn "' him most copiously 

 were among those who set their faces most sternly against 



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