2 88 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND 



celebrity, zvas said to have performed the same 

 distance in two-thirds of the time, though that is 

 really, perhaps, a less remarkable thing — some 

 fifty or sixty years later, in 1758 ; but some decep- 

 tion seems to have been practised by one or both 

 of these worthy relatives.) 



A.D. ? 1 702- 1 703: Sir Matthew Peirson's (Sir 

 William Strickland's) (Old) Merlin, ridden by 

 Jerome Hare, of Cold Kirby, Hambleton, Yorks, 

 beat (? B. C.) at Newmarket Mr. Tregonwell 

 Frampton's favourite horse, ridden by (? Mr. 

 Frampton's ' groom '), and caused the gentlemen 

 of the South to lose so much property to the 

 gentlemen of the North that the statute of Queen 

 Anne (9 Anne, c. 14) to restrict betting was 

 enacted. (It is, of course, absurd to suppose, as 

 is assumed by some authorities, that Frampton's 

 horse was ridden by Heseltine ; for Heseltine 

 was a northern groom, in charge of Merlin and 

 in the employment of Sir. W. Strickland.) 



*A.D. 1702 : Lord Godolphin's (the Lord 

 Treasurer's) horse (weights and distance un- 

 known) won a match in April at Newmarket, 

 against Mr. Harvey's horse, for ^3,000 (? a side). 

 (Notable as an instance of the first Lord Godol- 



