328 THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



" Who \vould have thought it 1 " grumbled OTTara ; 

 " bad luck to the garran that I backed ! " 



" Garran ! " exclaimed Lord Marley ; " Nameless is the 

 best horse of the year at this weight. I -wish he were 

 mine." 



" I beg your pardon, Mr. Eaby," said Colonel Leigh, 

 approaching our hero, as he walked away from the weigh- 

 ing-stand ; " the Prince wishes to know whether you are 

 disposed to part with your horse, and, if so, you will be 

 pleased to name your price." 



" Present my duty to the Prince, sir," replied Raby, 

 " and please to tell his Royal Highness Nameless is not for 

 sale. I intend to make a hunter of him." 



" What 1 " exclaimed Fairfax, who Avas at his elbow, 

 " make a hunter of a horse that could have won one of the 

 best stakes in England this year, and is nearly certain of 

 winning it next ! " 



" He shall never have another plate on his foot," resumed 

 our hero ; "but I hope to see many a good fox killed, on 

 his back." 



It is written of Alcibiades, the Athenian general, that 

 he gave an entertainment to all the spectators who wit- 

 nessed the success of his horses in winning the three grand 

 prizes on the Olympic race-course a snug little party, if 

 we are to credit the accounts given of the multitudes 

 assembled on such occasions. In humble imitation of so 

 memorable an example, our hero gave a dinner, on the 

 evening of his victory over Antonio, at the Bull Inn, in 

 Burford, to a large party of his acquaintances, at which, 

 in newspaper phraseology, " the utmost conviviality pre- 

 vailed to a very late hour ; " not only, indeed, until the 

 cock crowed on his perch, but until the sun peeped through 

 the blood-red curtains of the bay-windowed banqueting- 

 room of the said Bull Inn. Champagne at a guinea a 

 bottle, and claret at fifteen shillings the prices charged 

 to some old, and to all young, gentlemen of those days, at 

 race times especially flowed like water from the limpid 

 stream ; and devilled turkey and bishop, after the Christ- 

 church fashion, formed the topping-up of the feast. In 

 short, there was nothing wanted but another Euripides to 

 celebrate the day by an ode. 



And what were the topics of the evening ? Racing, 

 and nothing else, merely occasionally interrupted by a 

 casual remark on some particular toast. And what the 



