FIRST PERIOD: CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 15 



Book,' in 1704. In any case, whether the match 

 took place before or after Queen Anne came to 

 the throne, few details, chronological or other, 

 have come down to us, beyond the facts that Mr. 

 Tregonvvell Frampton, having tried to act the 

 part of ' biter,' was ' bit,' that Old Merlin (ridden 

 by Jerome Hare, of Cold Kirby, near Hambleton, 

 Yorks) was the winner, and Mr. Frampton's 

 ' favourite horse ' (ridden by somebody unnamed, 

 but certainly not by Heseltine, who w^as the 

 groom in attendance on Old Merlin) the loser, 

 that Sir Matthew Peirson (breeder of Old Merlin) 

 and Sir William Strickland (chief backer of Old 

 Merlin) were triumphant, and ' the gentlemen of 

 the South ' very much out of pocket and of land. 

 (See the list of ' Memorable Matches ' at the end 

 of this volume, a.d. 1702.) 



Queen Anne and her Prince Consort, better 

 known as Prince George of Denmark, patronized 

 Newmarket right royally, not only with their 

 presence, but with their own race-horses, and 

 with Gold Cups and Royal Plates. But after the 

 Prince's death, in 1708, her Majesty appeared no 

 more, it is said, at Newmarket, but she certainly 

 attended races at Ascot, as we know from various 



