14 " LOOK HERE, UPON THIS PICTURE, AND ON THIS.'' 



tablet of memory ever since : " I congratulate you on 

 losing the first bet you ever made : let it be the last : 

 never back your own horses (if you ever keep any,) 

 or those of any other person so long as you live : take 

 this advice from one who knows something about 

 these things, and has paid dearly for his knowledge." 

 I did take his advice, and never made a bet to the 

 amount of 5. since. 



Here is a case that bears me out in my assertion 

 that betting heavily, not keeping race-horses, ruins 

 people (the Legs of course excepted). Had Mellish 

 confined himself to keeping his horses, his judgment 

 was so good in breeding, buying, and then placing 

 them that his winnings would have been a fortune. 

 This, however, he would not do. " Peace to his 

 manes!" he had, I believe, every virtue but one 

 prudence. 



I will mention another man nearly equally fortunate 

 as to his winnings by his horses as Mellish, though 

 in other respects " no more like him than I to Her- 

 cules," the late John Beardsworth. Now, he knew 

 about as much of racing when he first went on the 

 Turf, as I do of the navigation of the poles, and in 

 fact very little at the last; yet, from having come 

 into possession of poor Mytton's horses, he had at one 

 time perhaps a better stable of race-horses than any 

 man in England, got them well placed for him, and 

 consequently his winnings in Cups, Stakes, &c., 

 amounted to such an enormous sum that I should be 

 fearful of mentioning it lest my accuracy might be 

 doubted. Now, many persons, I dare say, to this day 

 think the Turf was his ruin : no such thing ; nor was 

 betting, for he, comparatively speaking, never betted 

 a shilling. Large contracts with Government in 



