FIRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 3 



races occasionally, but were employed principally, 

 so far as their performances in the pigskin went, 

 in riding the horses for training purposes, and at 

 exercise. The races were nearly all matches, and 

 were usually ridden by gentlemen — by the King 

 himself, by his friends, companions, and courtiers, 

 and by other persons of quality. We hnd, for 

 instance, that the King rode in person against the 

 Duke of Monmouth, Mr. Elliot (of the Bed- 

 chamber), and Mr. Thynne (anciently spelt Thin — 

 short for 'at the Inn,' they say, without any idea 

 of meagreness), who was, no doubt, an ancestor 

 of the modern Marquises of Bath, as well as 

 against other persons unnamed, in matches and 

 also in Plates, ot which latter there were mighty 

 few. Of his contemporaries who ran and rode 

 horses at Newmarket, whether against the King 

 or against one another, the most notable names 

 and titles were those of the Earl of Suffolk (an- 

 cestor of the present Earl of Suffolk and Berk- 

 shire), the Duke of Buckingham, Lord Exeter, 

 Lord Oxford, Lord Mountgarret, Lord Thomond 

 (O'Brien), the Hon. Bernard Howard (of the 

 same house as the Earl of Suffolk, and the Ad- 

 miral Rous of the turf at that time). Lord Mon- 



