WAGERING ON ' ELIS.' 103 



august a personage ; and his lordship added to the 

 turf a defaulter, and lost his own money. This he 

 did, as some may think, by a refinement of cruelty. 

 For both results might have been averted, but for the 

 slight mistake he made in the imperious way in which 

 he tried to enforce the fulfilment of his moral tenets. 



I have said his lordship was always a heavy better, 

 and won largely over Bay Middleton on the Derby. 

 Indeed, he won most of the money. The owner, Lord 

 Jersey, found himself in the pleasing position of being 

 able to win very little, Lord George having forestalled 

 him in every direction, as no doubt he had a perfect 

 right to do. But how, may we ask, did Lord George 

 himself act over the Leger when, as the owner of 

 Ells, he found himself in a similar position ? More 

 astute than Lord Jersey had been, he declared that he 

 had been forestalled, and vowed that unless he had 

 what he was pleased to term fair odds laid him to a 

 certain sum — and that not a small one — against his 

 horse, he should scratch him. Elis, for the St. Leger, 

 was as much a public horse as was Bay Middleton for 

 the Derby ; and the public had as perfect a right to 

 back the one as the other. Yet in this different way of 

 treating the same subject by two equally high-minded 

 noblemen, I have never heard Lord Jersey praised for 

 his straightforward conduct, nor Lord George censured 

 for what some may regard as his successful attempt 

 ' to ride roughshod over the community,' when, having 

 the whiphand of them, he compelled the public to 



