ACCEPTS LORD ORFORD S CHALLENGE 4y 



accomplishment. Thus, when Lord Orford challenged 

 the world — at all times a 'large order' — to produce 

 a greyhound to beat a famous dog he owned of that 

 breed, who should step forward and accept his lord- 

 ship's challenge but Lord March. At that time he 

 did not possess a dog of that breed, and probably had 

 never done so. The Earl of March, on completion of 

 the conditions, resorted to a gentleman whose name 

 frequently occurs in sporting anecdotes of this 

 period — as an owner of racehorses ? No, for that 

 luxury was not included in the rule of life 'Old 

 Elwes,' the miser, had laid down for himself; although, 

 before his vice had grown on him, he kept at Stoke, 

 his Suffolk residence, a pack of foxhounds and a 

 stable full of hunters. It may be that the sight of 

 sport, gratis, and seeing that dross he so highly 

 prized in sometimes too rapid circulation, led this 

 close-fisted eccentric to Newmarket. However that 

 may have been, he is said to have been frequently 

 seen there ; and on one occasion so far forgot his part 

 as nobly to assist a sporting peer to make up his 

 money for a match, which he would have had to 

 forego for the want of a ready few thousand guineas. 



To this singular personage Lord March turned for 

 advice; why, it is difficult to say. However, it is 

 possible that Lord March had heard of a famous 



