FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 179 



was never a dictator, though he would fain have 

 been a reformer ; and his title to be called the 

 ' lucky baronet ' rests principally upon his success 

 in four Derbies with Teddington, Beadsman, 

 Musjid, and Blue Gown, and upon his possession 

 of three such good horses as Rosicrucian, Green 

 Sleeve, and Blue Gown, to put them in his own 

 order of excellence and precedence, all three of 

 the same age, in one year. 



Lord Derby, again, was never a dictator ; but 

 his influence was great, and he did good service 

 in the cause of reform by writing in 1857 to the 

 Stewards of the Jockey Club the famous letter, 

 in which he called the attention of his co-members 

 to the censurable inactivity of the Club, whose 

 authority was not exerted for the purpose of pre- 

 venting the appearance on the turf of notorious, 

 and even convicted, swindlers and scoundrels. 



And assuredly in turf-scandals her Majesty's 

 reign has been remarkably prolific. Cases of un- 

 doubted or suspected ' nobbling ' or attempts at 

 ' nobbling ' dot the period from first to last, or 

 from very early to very late, from 1841 certainly 

 to 1892. Lanercost, Ralph, Attila, Cotherstone, 

 Old England, SurpHce, Newminster, Blair Athol, 



