OLD-TIME ECCENTRICS OF SPORT 161 



of racing. With a wig and cocked hat on his head, and an 

 old ragged uniform, sometimes naval, sometimes military, 

 his fingers covered with brass rings, the neck of a bottle 

 picked up from some luncheon-party stuck in his eye, he 

 would strut up to some grandee, tap him on the shoulder, 

 and with the affectation of an aristocratic drawl, say, 

 " How de do, my lord, how's her ladyship, and the little 

 honourables ? " or he would request him to take his arm, 

 with " Let me show your lordship a little life ! " and my 

 lord would laugh and humour the joke, Jerry made no 

 bones even of accosting the Prince Regent and holding 

 out his hand to him, which the Prince did not disdain to 

 shake ; and Jerry used to talk, like Brummel, about " his 

 fat friend." 



Jerry made a good bit of money during the season, 

 which he invested in jewellery, watches, chains, etc., and 

 hawked about on the courses and elsewhere. On one 

 occasion this traffic got poor Jerry into trouble. A 

 jeweller's shop had been plundered at Manchester, and the 

 suspicions of the police fell upon the card-seller as being 

 connected with it ; so he was arrested, and such a number 

 of valuables were found upon his vagabond person that he 

 was locked up. 



And now Jerry's popularity came to his aid. Squire 

 Osbaldeston, as soon as he heard of it, vowed he would 

 have Jerry out of gaol within twenty-four hours. The next 

 morning, when he was brought up before the magistrate, 

 the squire, with many of his racing friends, was in the court 

 to speak for the poor fellow's honesty, and they gave him 

 such a character that he was at once released. Among 

 his own class he was equally popular. They had already 

 started a subscription for his defence ; and when he came 

 out, a free man, he was lifted upon the shoulders of his 

 friends and carried through the streets in triumph. Jerry 

 died in harness as he had lived. During the Goodwood 

 Meeting of 1848 he was standing on a coach, offering his 

 cards, and exchanging his usual chaff, when the horses 

 shied and upset the vehicle. The poor card-seller was 

 beneath it ; he was picked up in a fearfully crushed con- 

 dition, and conveyed to the Chichester Infirmary, where he 



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