36 JOHN BAYNTON STARKEY, ESQ. 



levity, though it may fire the spirits for an hour, will 

 make life short and miserable. Amongst the numerous 

 and varied characters who have figured in the racing 

 world, no doubt many have shown the possession of 

 wisdom and subtilty. Yet the existence of these 

 qualities will scarcely, I think, equal the rival claims 

 to notice of the folly, the indiscretion which in the 

 same arena has 'made virtue itself turn vice when 

 misapplied ;' and every attempted display of know- 

 ledge has proved but a betrayal to greater errors in 

 the prosecution of chimerical and immature schemes. 



In the racing community there exist two classes of 

 men, whose aims, though diametrically opposed, are 

 yet equally injurious to its true interests. The first 

 class comprises those impecunious adventurers and 

 reckless gamblers who, having nothing to lose but 

 a thing, their possession of which no one will ever dis- 

 cover — character, to wit — stop at nothing that will 

 brine ' grist to the mill.' The other is the thoughtless 

 gentleman, who, having all the attainments needful 

 to make racing and the racecourse a scene of enjoy- 

 ment as great to others as himself, yet for the lack of 

 discretion mars the most praiseworthy intentions, to 

 the detriment of the sport itself. Indeed, I am not 

 prepared to say that the latter is not, unconsciously, 

 the more harmful of the two. For he sets an example 

 followed by those who look up to him as a pillar of 

 the turf, and one of its most honourable supporters. 

 The adventurer, pure and simple, on the other hand, 



