BRITISH TURF. 15 



On the 8th of May, 1785, John Pratt, Esq., of 

 Askrigg, in Wensleydale, died at Newmarket. He 

 was a gentleman who had obtained much celebrity 

 on the turf, and whose death gave occasion for the 

 following elegy, in which his most famous race- 

 horses are enumerated. 



A character so eccentric, so variable, so valuable. 



Astonished the age he lived in. 



Though small his patrimony, yet assisted by that and his own genius. 



He for upwards of thirty years 



Supported all the hospitality of an Ancient Baron. 



The excellent qualities of his heart 



Were eminently evinced by his bounty to the poor. 



His sympathetic feelings for distress and his charity for all mankind. 



Various and wonderful were the means which enabled him. 



With unsullied reputation. 



To support his course of life, in which he saw and experienced 



many Trials 



And many vicissitudes of fortune, and though often hard pressed 



Whipped and spurred by that jockey. Necessity, 



He never swerved out of the course of Honour. 



Once when his finances were impaired 



He received a seasonable supply by the performance of a Miracle. 



At different periods he exhibited, which were just emblems of his 



own life, 



A Conundrum, an ^Enigma, and a Riddle ; and strange to tell. 



Even these enriched his pocket. 



Without incurring censure he trained up an Infidel 



Which turned out to his advantage. 



He had no singular partiality for flowers, shrubs, fruit, or birds. 



Yet for several years he maintained a Florist, 



And his Red Rose more than once obtained the premium. 



He had a Honeysuckle and a Pumpkin which brought hundreds 



into his purse. 



And a Phoenix, a Nightingale, a Goldfinch, and a Chaffinch 



which produced him thousands. 



