194- 'OLD Q' 



or comment. It is almost certain that Queensbeny's 

 shortcomings would have been less pronounced, had 

 they not been made just a little too much of for 

 copy. The eager curiosity with which his move- 

 ments and doings were watched, by both sexes of 

 all classes, demanded reports concerning the object 

 of their notice, true or false. For it remains an in- 

 disputable fact, that no man of those times did so 

 little worthy of emulation, and yet had received 

 so much notice, as his grace, as for nearly the 

 allotted span of man's earthly career he was the 

 observed of all observed. But enough — I am antici- 

 pating his funeral exordium. 



In 1796, though the journals had killed him, 

 Queensberry made fourteen racing engagements — 

 result, a cipher; a condition of racing affairs he 

 must have become accustomed to. Though he ran 

 some half-dozen new horses in the year following, in 

 twenty-four engagements he only secured a ' verdict ' 

 for three events, value £150. 



The Duke's study of health found him at seventy- 

 three with almost unimpaired appetite, if not digestion. 

 Mrs. Trench, who dined with him in 1798, remarks, 

 ' He is very ill, has a violent cough, but will eat an 

 immense dinner, and then complains of a digestion 

 penible.' This lady gives some tittle-tattle concern- 



