90 'OLD q' 



Nor must the different conditions of social life be 

 forgotten — those which abetted Lord March's pro- 

 pensities as much as they led those sworn ' to love 

 and cherish ' to forget their vows, a peccadillo from 

 which his lordship must be absolved. Whatever 

 life he led, he broke no vows, nor posed as a ' Joseph 

 Surface.' 



Nevertheless, a singular choice, alteration, or re- 

 gistration of his racing colours in this year points 

 to a desire to be thought spotless. At a meeting 

 of the Jockey Club, on the 2nd of October 1762, 

 a resolution was passed that jockeys should wear 

 colours ; ^ thereon Lord March selected the emblem 

 of that cardinal virtue, purity — white.^ A happy 

 exposition of Shakespeare's hne : ' Assume a virtue, 

 if you have it not.' 



About this period Lord March changed his town 

 residence from Piccadilly to Marylebone, a neigh- 

 bourhood then becoming fashionable. His house is 

 not said to have been erected by his old acquaint- 

 ance, ' Miser ' Elwes, who built several houses in 



^ It would hence appear that distinctive colours were not com- 

 pulsory before this date. 



' I have mentioned that he previously adopted scarlet ; indeed, 

 he appears to have changed his colours once or twice before he 

 settled down into the ' deep ' red and black cap he is best 

 known by. 



