FOURTH PERIOD: VICTORIA. 195 



thouj^hts) to have shown symptoms of his 

 father's malady in givini^ 4,000 guineas for The, 

 Colonel (before the horse had done racing, how- 

 ever) ; but the subjects of Queen Victoria were 

 to see the ^12,000, or more, given for Blair 

 Athol followed by the / 14,000 given by the 

 Duke of Westminster for Doncaster, and the 

 ^15,000 given for Common (winner of Two 

 Thousand, Derby, and Leger, in 1891), ^iHpoo, 

 it is said, for Kendal, by Mr. Piatt, and ^27,000 

 offered for Ormonde by Sir J. l^lundell Maple. 



Americans, however (who were unknown to 

 Hamlet), are even madder than Englishmen in 

 these matters, and carry out their principle of 

 American 'bigness' in everything, from a goose- 

 berry to the price of a thoroughbred ; for an 

 American gave 40,000 dollars, according to the 

 published reports, or about ^8,000, for King 

 Thomas (? brother to King Fox and 13an Fox) at 

 Madison Square Gardens, New York, in 1888. 

 Now, King Thomas won his first race at five 

 years of age in 1892, at Brighton l^each, and it was 

 worth just a hundredth part of the sum paid for 

 him. Moreover, an American, Mr. Reed, gave 

 ;/^20,ooo (at an American snle) for St. P)laise 



