THE RACE-HORSE. 575 



their condition of life, and how multiplied is the temptation, 

 when there are confederacies of gamblers, chiefly in the great 

 cities, who have the means to offer bribes, too great for 

 ordinary virtue to resist ? Deceptive trials, and lying re- 

 ports, may all lend their aid; and even the poisoned tank, 

 and debilitating ball, may be called into action, the one to 

 deprive the noble victim of life, the other, with scarcely less 

 nefarious aim, to unfit him for exercising his powers when 

 brought into the field. In the year 1812, a ruffian called 

 Dawson, was executed for administering poison to various 

 horses. He had been engaged in these practices for four 

 years. He had effected his ends by means of arsenic or cor- 

 rosive sublimate, sometimes introducing the poison by means 

 of a syringe into the locked troughs at which the horses 

 drank. The wretch suffered, while the heartless criminals 

 who had set him on remained undiscovered. 



One of the practices pursued is to get up favourites for 

 the great stakes. This is done by means of lies, false trials, 

 deceptive bets, high prices paid for horses, so as to enhance 

 the public opinion of their value, and by devices of all sorts. 

 Large sums are staked on the favourite horse by the public. 

 But is it intended that he shall win ? No : it is settled that 

 he shall lose. A little management of the jockeys will save 

 appearances, and thousands are to be duped that the owner 

 and his confederates may pocket the spoil. Enormous sums, 

 as 3000 guineas, or more, are paid for a colt, we will sup- 

 pose, to start for the Derby. What is the meaning of this \ 

 Is the owner to back this colt against a hundred horses he 

 has never seen, twenty or thirty of which (many of them, for 

 any thing he knows, better than his own) are to start I No : 

 The purpose is not to win the Derby. The owner and 

 his confederates are to gain by the loss of the race, and the 

 dupes are to back the favourite. One of the finest horses 

 that has appeared on the modern turf, Plenipotentiary, who 

 had never been defeated, who had gained the Derby with- 

 out a struggle, and had walked over Ascot Heath, because 



