io4 LORD GEORGE BENTINCK. 



give up to him bets they had taken for themselves, as 

 they had a perfect right to do. Or it may have been 

 but an illustration of the familiar adage that ' one 

 man may steal a horse, whilst another may not look 

 over the gate.' 



Lord George was unfortunate in other ways. Who 

 so forward to impose fines on others % or who broke 

 the restrictions more frequently in the spirit, if 

 not in the letter, than himself? We can easily 

 imagine how galling was the compulsory payment of 

 a £5 penalty, which he had to pay at Goodwood for 

 inattention to, or the wilful disregard of, one of his 

 own enactments. Again, false trials were then, as now, 

 got up to mislead the touts and deceive the news- 

 mongers. Such things are justifiable, I allow, in cases 

 when one's interest is unfairly assailed. Yet, unless 

 such forcible reason exists, in instances when friends as 

 well as enemies are deceived, the case is different, 

 especially when patricians descend to such subterfuges. 

 Ill-natured remarks were made at the time to the 

 effect that Cherokee, a mare of his lordship's, was 

 tried in a manner to lead to the suspicion that all was 

 not aboveboard ; and as the result of the race and 

 the betting went to prove that the surmise was 

 correct, we should hardly expect that noblemen con- 

 descending to such a practice should receive the 

 unqualified approbation of their equals, or indeed of 

 honest men of any position. Nor can entire admira- 

 tion be evoked by the urbanity displayed in a quarrel 



