68 THE HISTORY OF NEWMARKET. [Book II. 



extraordinary method observed in training the winner, 

 which must have been one of those faint-hearted 

 animals of the same kidney as those in our own 

 enhghtened times, that cannot achieve victory without 

 first partaking of a bottle of whiskey. But to train 

 a horse on stimulating beverages alone is, indeed, 

 unique. 



^^ Richard de la Pole, or Blanche Rose, as he was 

 familiarly called by his contemporaries, 3rd Duke of Suffolk, 

 was the third son of John de la Pole, who, having married 

 the Lady Elizabeth Plantagenet, sister to King Edward IV. 

 and King Richard III., was confirmed as Duke of Suffolk 

 by letters patent, dated March 23, 1463. Through this 

 alliance Richard de la Pole, the 3rd Duke of Suffolk, aspired 

 to the throne of England, although his predecessors, little 

 more than a century prior to this date, were only merchants 

 at Kingston-upon-HuU. Edmund de la Pole, 2nd Duke 

 of Suffolk, the elder brother of the notable Turfite who is the 

 subject of this memoir, was one of the last persons of rank 

 attached to the fortunes of the House of York, who entered 

 the service of Henry VII. ; but his successor, becoming 

 alarmed at the duke's claims to the crown, had him beheaded 

 on Tower Hill, April 30, 15 13, when all his honours and 

 estates were declared forfeited. Notwithstanding the attain- 

 der, execution, and the consequent forfeiture of this duke, his 

 brother Richard, then living an exile in France, assumed the 

 honours of his family, and boldly asserted his claims to the 

 throne of England. His pretensions were recognized at 

 the court of France, and Louis XII., besides promising to 

 assist him with men and arms, gave him an annual pension 

 of 36,000 crowns. But when the fortunes of Blanche Rose 

 looked most promising, they were blighted by the peace made 

 between Louis and Henry, in July, 15 14, when the latter 

 gave his sister Mary in marriage to Louis. Both the Emperor 

 of Germany and the Dauphin were displeased at this, for 

 Louis wished thereby to keep the Dauphin from the crown of 



