566 THE HORSE. 



regarding the eccentric Duke. On one occasion of a match, 

 a large sum of money was offered to his jockey, if he would 

 lose the race. The jockey honestly told the Duke, who 

 coolly desired him to take the money. When the horse came 

 to the starting-post, the Duke too was there. He said he 

 had a mind to ride the horse himself, so, throwing off his 

 greatcoat, he was seen to be equipped in racing attire, and 

 mounting, he won the race with ease. In 1756, he had a 

 successful match with the Duke of Hamilton, when both 

 noblemen rode their own horses, and when enormous sums 

 depended on the result. His horse, Dash, beat Sir Peter 

 Teazle over the six-mile course of Newmarket ; and he gained 

 two others, thousand-guinea matches, three times round the 

 Round Course, or a distance of about twelve miles. He kept 

 a select, but not a numerous stud. He died in 1810, at the 

 age of eighty-six. 



In 1784, we find the gay and accomplished Prince of Wales, 

 then twenty-two years of age, an eager supporter of this class 

 of amusements. In 1791, an event occurred, which caused 

 the Royal Prince to quit the turf in disgust. The story has 

 been often told ; but, as it has not been always fairly told, it 

 is but just to repeat it. On the 20th October, the Prince's 

 best horse, Escape, ridden by Samuel Chifney the elder, was 

 beaten at Newmarket by Coriander and Skylark, Escape 

 being the favourite horse in the betting. On the following 

 day, the betting being 5 to 1 against Escape, this horse, ridden 

 by Chifney, beat Skylark and the other horses easily. At 

 this result, a violent outcry was raised by the losers, who 

 did not hesitate to say that, on the 20th, Chifney rode to 

 lose, and that the Prince himself was implicated. The cha- 

 racter and station of the youthful Prince might have saved 

 him from this cruel suspicion. He declared that he had no 

 bets on the first day's race, and but inconsiderable ones on 

 the second. He caused Chifney to be rigidly examined, 

 when the latter made affidavit that he had done everything 

 which his judgment suggested to him to make his horse win 



