LORD GEORGE BENTINCK AND COLONEL ANSON. 401 



I shall begin with Sir William Gregory's narra- 

 tive, partly taken down from his own lips, and 

 partly confirmed by letters now in my possession 

 touching the famous duel between Lord George 

 and Squire Osbaldeston in 1836. It should be 

 premised that the account usually given of the 

 encounter in question differs in many particulars 

 from the more veracious record supplied by Sir 

 William Gregory. It was well known to their 

 contemporaries and friends that the greatest 

 possible intimacy subsisted between Lord George 

 Bentinck and Colonel Anson. Their friendship 

 was doubtless increased by the fact that, in Lord 

 George's opinion. Colonel Anson had saved his life 

 when subjected to the fire of one of the finest pistol- 

 shots in the world. Some years later, Colonel Anson 

 did his utmost to heal the differences which had 

 long existed between those two masterful first 

 cousins. Lord George and Mr Charles Greville, who, 

 after being racing confederates in youth, became 

 bitterly estranged when they quarrelled about 

 Preserve, whose running has been described in a 

 previous chapter. Colonel Anson obtained from 

 Lord George Bentinck a promise that he would 

 meet and shake hands with Mr Greville after a 

 certain race at Goodwood in 1843. Mr Greville 

 had long been eager for a reconciliation, and when 

 the race in question was over, he lost not a moment 

 in repairing to the tryst named by Colonel Anson, 

 who had addressed himself to the far more difficult 



2 c 



