A LABOUR OF LOVE. 6 



long acquaintance with his character, disposition, 

 and habits. It is a duty of which I have long 

 desired to acquit myself, but. which other avoca- 

 tions have led me to defer until, at my compara- 

 tively advanced age, I feel hardly competent to do 

 justice to the many great qualities and exceptional 

 merits which made Lord George Bentinck the most 

 remarkable man that I ever knew. To me, how- 

 ever, it will be a labour of love to put down what 

 I remember of my dear and honoured master, who 

 was pleased to repose in my father and myself a 

 confidence, and to admit us to an intimacy, which 

 were, to say the least, unusual when our relative 

 stations in life are borne in mind. Nor, in asso- 

 ciation with Lord George Bentinck, ought I to 

 omit to mention, in the most respectful, loving, 

 and grateful terms, the name of Lord George's 

 confederate and valued friend, the fifth Duke of 

 Bichmond, who was my father's and my own 

 master long before Lord George joined the Good- 

 wood stable, and long after he left it. His Grace 

 was one of those high-minded, large-hearted, and 

 happily constituted noblemen whom to know was 

 to love ; and I verily believe that never before 

 did it fall to the lot of any trainer to serve two 

 such masters. In the reports occasionally given 

 of them in newspapers and magazines, which have 

 from time to time come under my eye, there is so 

 much inaccuracy, and in the case of Lord George 

 Bentinck often so much injustice, that I feel it 



