148 'OLD q' 



to occurrences during 1773. In this Lord March 

 speaks of going to York for the races, a meeting he 

 hardly missed during fifty years. 



During one of these visits to the ' Minster ' city, 

 racing bound (than which city or Castle Howard he 

 seldom went further ' towards his native heath '), he 

 met a sturdy Yorkshire farmer in the betting-ring, 

 who desired to bet with his lordship. The latter 

 shrewdly replied, 'I do not know you; I am Lord 

 March.' The farmer, nothing dismayed, rattled his 

 money in his pockets and passed on. A little time 

 after, his lordship was exceedingly anxious to get 

 a bet covered for a race, at which the professional or 

 amateur bookmakers looked askance. The farmer, 

 who had overheard March, now approached and 

 offered to take the bet, though he confessed he 

 was doubtful about his money, as he had only his 

 word for his being Lord March. This tit-for-tat so 

 tickled his lordship that he soon proved who he 

 was ; and for many a year after, as the race meet- 

 ing came round, March and the ' tyke ' had their 

 * little bit ' on together. 



His lordship's Turf performances in 1773 show a 

 considerable diminution from the two preceding years 

 — fifteen engagements, though credited with an ab- 

 normally large winning record in proportion — seven ; 



