THE FATHERS OF BOOKMAKING 15 



when fortune smiled upon him, and he not only got back 

 all he had lost, but ;^3000 in addition. But it was not so 

 much luck as ability that led him on to fortune. He made 

 his calculations so carefully, that bets which were matters of 

 chance with many, with him became certainties. 



And yet he was not happy, for with all his money he 

 could neither get into any of the London clubs nor gain 

 election to the Jockey Club. This annoyed him dreadfully, 

 and he never missed having a fling at those members of 

 the aristocracy who, he thought, were the cause of his being 

 blackballed on every occasion he had put up for election. 

 For instance, when he asked Frank Buckle what he wanted 

 yearly for the first call upon his services, the jockey replied 

 " ;^400 " — a large sum at that time, and double what 

 George IV., when Prince of Wales, gave the elder Chiffney. 

 " Agreed," said O'Kelly ; " and if you'll promise not to ride 

 at all for any of the blacklegged fraternity I'll double the 

 wages." To the inquiry as to wjiom he meant, O'Kelly 

 answered : " Who should I mean but the Duke of Cleve- 

 land, the Duke of Grafton, Lords Abingdon, Foley, and 

 Derby, and a lot more " ; but as Dennis's list included the 

 names of all the foremost men on the Turf, Buckle re- 

 spectfully declined the offer. 



But though Dennis O'Kelly could not get into Society 

 by the front door, he managed to climb up by the back- 

 stairs. With his " guardian angel," Charlotte Hayes, whom 

 he first met in the Fleet Prison, and to whom he owed his 

 escape from that debtors' Inferno and his elevation to 

 prosperity, he kept open house at his beautiful " Cottage " 

 at Clay Hill, near Epsom. The Society which the Colonel 

 and Charlotte entertained was certainly mixed, but it 

 included some of the highest personages in the land. The 

 Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cumberland, the Duke of 

 Orleans, Lord Egremont, Lord Grosvenor, and many other 

 noble sportsmen condescended to partake of the magnifi- 

 cent hospitality dispensed so charmingly by their lively 

 and entertaining host and hostess. The wines were superb, 

 the cuisine of the choicest, and the motto of the house wa? 

 " Do what you please." It was Liberty Hall in the broadest 

 sense ; and yet, strange to say, though an inveterate 



