ADMIRAL ROUS AND 'THE EARL.' 25 



Elizabeth and her stable companion, the equally 

 memorable The Earl, does not concern me, or perhaps 

 anyone else, so long as the owner, the late Lord 

 Hastings, was satisfied. And that he w r as satisfied, 

 his manly letter written at the time amply testifies. 

 In fact, the affair gained its unpleasant and prominent 

 publicity entirely through what I feel constrained to 

 term the imbecile officiousness of the late Admiral 

 Eous, in writing a hasty and ill-judged letter to the 

 Times on the scratching of The Earl in that year's 

 Derby, for which Messrs. Padwick and Hill were 

 generally held responsible. It was this letter that 

 drew from Lord Hastings the reply I have mentioned, 

 and cost my brother John £800 to defend himself 

 against its injustice. As for the Admiral's part in the 

 matter — to say the least of it, he had no occasion to 

 have anything whatever to do with it ; for his valuable 

 opinion not having been asked, he need not have 

 given it. His interference was, indeed, in strict 

 keeping with his fondness for censuring some one, 

 and zeal for reforming turf abuses, or what he con- 

 sidered such, without waiting for proof of any kind. 

 Of this curious predilection on the Admiral's part it 

 may well be said : ' All's not offence that indiscretion 

 finds and dotage terms so.' 



Amongst Mr. Pad wick's most gentlemanly and 

 pleasant visitors on business was Mr. Whieldon, of 

 Wyke House, Gillingham. Unlucky, as others have 

 been, this gentleman failed to meet his engagements, 



