68 SPORTING STORIES 



Until his marriage, in 1883, Archer lived with his old 

 master, and his requirements were so few that two rooms 

 satisfied him. It was in the extreme flexibility of his 

 hands and the delicate manipulation of a horse's mouth 

 that the "Tinman" rose so superior to his fellows. It is 

 not for one of the present generation to compare this later 

 darling of the Turf with such men as Frank Buckle, the 

 Chiffneys, the Arnulls, etc. ; but in his own day Archer 

 was unapproachable. He held his life in his hands when- 

 ever turning Tattenham corner ; and, although so reckless 

 in the saddle, it is said that in his early days he had a 

 dreadful fear of death — not of death pure and simple, but 

 the awful fear that he might be buried in a trance. 



Falmouth House, on the Bury road, just under a mile 

 from Newmarket, was built by him for the reception of his 

 bride, the daughter of his old master's brother John 

 Dawson ; but she died soon after the birth of her first 

 child, a girl. The widow of a former patrician of the Turf 

 was so infatuated with the popular jockey that she offered 

 to settle ;^io,ooo a year (her income was about ^20,000) 

 upon him if he would marry her ; but Archer politely, but 

 firmly, refused. 



In the last winter of his life, when Archer went to 

 Cheltenham, his native place, to indulge in his favourite 

 pastime of hunting and renew old acquaintanceships, he 

 weighed 10 st. 7 lbs., and if he had let nature take her 

 course he was naturally an 1 1 st. man. At Falmouth 

 House he had fitted up a most elaborate Turkish bath, as 

 hot as Hades, and in this, when getting down weight, he 

 used literally to parboil himself Previous to the com- 

 mencement of the racing season Archer had eighteen 

 Turkish baths in one week, and his self-denial in the 

 matter of food would have given a start and a beating to 

 the most ascetic of anchorites. His prescription for 

 wasting was written by an eminent London physician, and 

 made up by Dr Wright, whose establishment is at the end 

 of the town, near the race-course, and this powder ho was 

 continually taking. In order to ride St Mirin he went, as 

 I have already stated, without food for three days, and was 

 for eighteen hours in a Turkish bath, and so much did he 



