REFORMS IN JUDGING. 301 



any one offered to make matches or bets. He 

 never smoked, and appeared to doze when others 

 were smoking. But, asleep or awake, he was 

 always perfectly self-possessed ; and sleeping or 

 waking, no one ever heard from him an indiscretion 

 or an unmaskino- disclosure. " All the world and 

 his wife know full well how quiet Lord George 

 Bentinck is when he has a good thing." Such 

 was the remark of a writer who had watched him 

 closely and knew him well. 



The primitive arrangements for conducting most 

 of the provincial race meetings, previous to the 

 time when Lord George's attention was drawn to 

 them, undoubtedly demanded reform, as among 

 other anomalies it was customary for a private 

 gentleman to officiate in the capacity of judge, 

 and also in that of starter. The consequence was 

 that gross errors occurred in the awards of many 

 races ; while the disappointments and unsatis- 

 factory scenes witnessed at the starting-post were 

 disgraceful in the extreme. Two very flagrant 

 errors in the decision of races affecting the Good- 

 wood Stable came under my observation, — one in 

 1824, when the Duke of Richmond's mare Dandi- 

 zette ran for the Goodwood Stakes, and passed 

 the winning-post first ; but the race was given by 

 Mr Greville, who acted as judge, to Lord Veru- 

 lam's Vitellina. At that time the judge's box was 

 perched aloft, considerably above the level of the 

 race-track. Dandizette finished close to the rails, 



