HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND 



breeding in the reign of George II., who re- 

 sembled his father in liis negflect of horse-racino- 

 as well as in his dislike of ' boets and bainters/ 

 If any surprise should be felt that no mention is 

 made of the ino-enious Earl of March and Ruolen 

 (better known as the notorious Duke of Queens- 

 bury, or ' Old O.'), who was certainly in full blast 

 at the time both on Newmarket Heath and in the 

 North, the reason is that the nobleman in ques- 

 tion was rather given to riding matches and using 

 the race-horse as an instrument of gambling than 

 to the winning of Royal Plates or to the breeding 

 of blood-stock, w'nich he seems to have preferred 

 to purchase for his purposes. Nor had the day of 

 Sir Richard Grosvenor (ancestor of the Marquises 

 and Duke of Westminster) and the Duke of Graf- 

 ton, and other celebrated persons of the early turf, 

 yet reached more than its dawn. 



As for such renowned horses as Mr. Lameeo's 

 Little Driver (son of Mr. Beavors Driver), that 

 stood 14 hands 1 inch, and Mr. Benjamin 

 Rogers' Aaron (Lord Chedworth's, that 'gener- 

 ally measured under 14 hands'), they were not, 

 either in size or in anything else, among the giants 

 of the turf; they greatly affected give-and-take 



