AN OLD SQUIRE'S DIARY 365 



Squire Assheton was sufficiently simple in some matters 

 to be taken in by the "sharps" of the period. Here 

 is a story which he tells against himself: — "June 23rd. 

 Downham. There came one to us in the street and asked 

 if we heare nothing of a bay gelding stolen from Mr Holte's, 

 Castleton, by the miller there, and one silver bowle, and eigh- 

 teen silver spoones. I took him to the ale-house and spent 

 12 pence on him. I lent him two shillings, Hee was a 

 cheaie." How the Squire discovered that the person whom 

 he treated at the ale-house was a " cheate," or in what his 

 cheating consisted, we are not told, which is tantalising. 



There are several allusions to horse-racing, of which the 

 Squire was evidently fond ; but they are provokingly vague, 

 though this is not always the diarist's fault. I will give 

 one or two specimens : — " January 26th. Self, John 

 Braddyll, cousin Assheton, with others, went to Walton 

 to see Sir Richard's horses that stood there." Here, in 

 the original manuscript, follows a long account of a horse- 

 race which the first editor of the journal, the Rev. Thomas 

 Dunham Whitaker (who introduced the diary into his 

 history of the Parish of Whalley) did not think worth 

 reproducing. The second editor, the Rev. F. R. Raines, 

 was of a different opinion, but unfortunately the MS. had 

 been mislaid or destroyed ; at any rate, it was not to be 

 found amongst Dr Whitaker's papers, and thus what would 

 have probably been the earliest detailed account of a horse- 

 race has been irretrievably lost. 



Another entry respecting horse-racing is as follows : — 

 " Sir Richard and Mr Assheton made a match, his dunn 

 gelding against a dunn nag of Sir Richard, for twenty 

 pieces a side. Sir Richard and my cousin to ride as light 

 as they can, so as Sir Richard be 10 st." This I take to 

 have been a match, owners up, Sir Richard to scale not less 

 that 10 St., Mr Assheton to ride at catch-weight. Such 

 matches were a common form of amusement among the 

 country gentry, and large sums were wagered in addition 

 to the stakes. 



I have noted how careful Squire Assheton was to observe 

 Sunday ; but the temptation of a horse-race appears some- 

 times to have been too much for him, and the parson 



