THE UACE-HORSE. 551 



as far as possible the hurtful effects which may result from 

 it. One evil, scarcely to be guarded against, is the circula- 

 tion of false reports of the trials, whereby horses which it is 

 known beforehand will lose are rendered favourites for the 

 great stakes. This has taken place in many cases to the de- 

 ception of the public, and the injury of those to whom the 

 reports were communicated. The watching of trials is strictly 

 prohibited, at least by the Newmarket regulations ; but watch- 

 ing notwithstanding takes place, and the result is communi- 

 cated with the speed of a telegraph to the different clubs, and 

 those who have the means to pay for the intelligence. But 

 in this game of trick the watcher and his correspondents are 

 often cheated in their turn. The training-grooms may make 

 a horse win or lose as suits the purpose to be served ; nay, 

 the jockeys who ride may be as ignorant of the result as the 

 horses themselves. The one jockey, we will suppose, has 

 gained the race by a single length, or by half a dozen of 

 lengths ; but he knows not the load of shot that has been 

 privately stuffed into his rival's saddle ; and the latter, good 

 man, is equally ignorant of the leaden spell that has been 

 laid upon the powers of his horse. But the story which of 

 all others has been the most frequently told upon this sub- 

 ject, and which best deserves to be repeated, relates to a 

 famous match in the reign of George I. A horse, Merlin, was 

 to run against another, the property of the well-known Tre- 

 gonwell Frampton, then styled the Father of the Turf. The 

 match excited intense interest among the sportsmen of the 

 north in favour of Merlin, and among those of the south in 

 favour of his rival. The horses had been for some time in 

 training at Newmarket, when Frampton's groom, with the 

 knowledge of his master, endeavoured to induce the groom 

 of Merlin to have a private trial with the weights and for 

 the distances agreed upon, which he asserted could not fail 

 to make both their fortunes. The groom in charge of Mer- 

 lin had the honesty to communicate the proposal to Sir Wil- 

 liam Stricklaiud, who took the charge of the match for Mer- 



