SECOND PERIOD : GEORGE III. 87 



whereof regarded with abhorrence the practice of 

 systematic betting, and was of opinion that it 

 could only lead to the ruin of young gentlemen 

 who backed horses. Which shows how difficult 

 it is sometimes, if not generally, in this world to 

 reconcile one's interests with one's moral convic- 

 tion. Similarly it is understood that the late 

 famous proprietor of the ' hell ' at Monte Carlo, 

 who is said to have been known as ' the Old 

 Gentleman,' as much from his proprietorship as 

 from his position of paterfamilias, and in any case 

 ' for emphasis or distinction's sake,' as the Eton 

 Latin Grammar has it, had a very low opinion of 

 the persons who indulged in the vice which his 

 tables encouraged, and, under new auspices, do 

 still encourage. But whether or no, the reign of 

 George III. saw the institution of the betting 

 ring in the form with which we are now familiar. 

 The same reign witnessed the descent upon 

 our race-courses of the foreigner, represented by 

 Philippe Egalite (the site of whose stables is still 

 pointed out at Newmarket), the Comte de Laur- 

 aguais (who, having earned but little credit 

 under that tide, died at the great age of ninety- 

 one, in 1823, as the highly respected Due de 



