1680.] THE OCTOBER MEETING. 377 



turn to WhiteJiall this day sevcnnight." — The "London 



Gazette," 5^^^:-^' 1680. No. 1552. 

 Oct. 4, ^^ 



" Whitehall, Octob. 9. This afternoon His Majesty and 



His Royal Highness, returned hither from Nezvmarketr — 



Ibid., Oct. fy. No. 1554. 



Sir John Reresby, who was on a visit at the palace at 

 Newmarket, does not refer to the races in his " Memoirs." 

 The State Papers are also silent on the subject. Sidney 

 Godolphin sent despatches every day to Whitehall. They 

 contain no allusion to the sports ; but they exhibit the young 

 minister, who subsequently became one of the most prominent 

 patrons of the Turf, handling the affairs of state with great 

 tact and ability. He managed to make the king attend to 

 routine business in a way never accomplished by any other 

 minister at Newmarket. He had to transact the intricate 

 details of the expedition to Tangier, under the greatest diffi- 

 culties, yet successfully. He reconciled Lord Cavendish with 

 the Duke of Devonshire ; drew up proclamations to banish 

 the Papists from London ; attended on the court in its ex- 

 cursions to Euston and elsewhere in the vicinity of New- 

 market ; everything he undertook was brought to a successful 

 issue.* In the words of his royal master, " He was never in 

 the way, nor ever out of it." 



"September 30, 1680 . . . thence over a spacious heath, 

 many miles long and broad, where we had a fine prospect of 

 Ely Minster, to , . . ; and thence to Newmarket, where we 

 had the honour to see his Majesty, and the Duke of York ; 

 thence over the spacious heath to Stourbridge, where the 

 noted yearly fair is, where we had the prospect of two 

 churches in one churchyard, built by two sisters ; and thence 

 to Cambridge, where we lodged at night." — Ralph Thoresby's 

 " Diary," vol. i., p. 65. 



Anne, Countess of Sunderland,t in a familiar letter to her 



* State Papers, Dora., bundle 257, passim. " London Gazette," 

 No. 1553. 



t Second daughter of the Earl of Bristol, by Lady Anne Russel, and 

 wife of Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland. 



