FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 155 



race-horses bred, and in the quantity, if not the 

 quality, of the horse -racing itself — a pitch of 

 development in comparison with which that ol 

 George III.'s time, wonderful as it was, sinks, 

 unless perhaps as regards the style of horses bred, 

 the ' form ' exhibited, and the sort of races run, 

 into absolute insignificance. 



George IV., we are told, had left the palace 

 stables at Newmarket to his trainer, William 

 Edwards, ' for life '; but, however that may be, 

 it was not long after her Majesty's marriage that 

 the Royal Palace at Newmarket, which had 

 been the scene of 'high jinks' in the days of 

 ' the First Gentleman ' and the ' Bishop of Osna- 

 burgh ' and ' Egalite,' was sold by order of her 

 Majesty and by advice, it has been surmised, of 

 the Prince Consort, lest a return of the ' good 

 old times ' should be witnessed, and was knocked 

 down by Mr. Driver, the auctioneer, to a building 

 speculator for ^100 over the reserve, after half 

 an hour had elapsed without a bid on the part of 

 any one among the few persons present. Before 

 that time, on the very morrow of her Majesty's 

 accession, or, more literally, on Wednesday, 

 October 25, 1837, the splendid stud at Hampton 

 Court, in the teeth of remonstrances made by 



