TURFITES ON THE GRAND SCALE 11 



to-day. There is, for example, something very suspicious 

 about the following passage from a letter dated 20th March 

 1634 : " The Earl of Southampton, they say, hath lost a 

 great deal of monie latelie at the Horse Races at New- 

 market ; but true it is, he hath licence to travel for three 

 years, and is gone in all haste to France." I suspect that 

 some of those to whom the Earl of Southampton had lost 

 money were left lamenting when that noble sportsman 

 made his hurried exit. 



The eighteenth century is rich in betting " ana," from 

 Royalty downwards. Although the actual occupants of the 

 throne showed little or no interest in racing, the sport had 

 the enthusiastic patronage of some lesser stars of royalty, 

 among them two Princes of Wales and four Royal Dukes. 



First and foremost was Frederick, Prince of Wales, eldest 

 son of George the Second, and father of George the Third. 

 Scarcely anyone had a good word to say for " poor Fred " 

 in his lifetime. His father detested him. His mother, 

 Queen Caroline, writing to John, Lord Harvey, thus ex- 

 pressed her opinion of her eldest born : — 



" My dear Lord, I will give it to you under my own 

 hand if you are in any fear of my relapsing, that my dear 

 first-born is the greatest ass, and the greatest liar, and the 

 greatest canaille, and the greatest beast in the whole world, 

 and I heartily wish he were out of it." 



But the King's loathing for the Prince of Wales was 

 something even stronger and more horrible. What had 

 " poor Fred " done to deserve such hatred and loathing 

 from his own parents ? Well, he was not a nice young 

 man according to our modern notions, but he was no worse 

 than dozens of others about the Court, whose peccadilloes 

 never provoked such a storm of execration as fell on " poor 

 Fred." He was no worse in his morals than his younger 

 brother, William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, yet the 

 latter was to the last a persona grata at his father's Court. 



But, whatever else Frederick, Prince of Wales, may have 

 been, he certainly was a keen sportsman, thoroughly 

 English in his sporting tastes. He loved hunting, racing, 

 yachting, angling, cricket, and hawking. He was a very 

 heavy bettor, not only on the Turf, but on every amuse- 



