i2 4 LORD GEORGE BENTINCK. 



father at all events did not think so, and laid against 

 him, as anyone had a right to do who was prepared 

 to meet the consequences. From sheer vindictiveness 

 Lord George commenced backing him ; and by the 

 weight of money he put on made the horse a favourite, 

 forcing my father, from prudential motives, to hedge, 

 and causing him to lose in this way something over 

 £1,000. But if he lost, Lord George did not come 

 out a winner ; for it must have cost him double this 

 amount in accomplishing his aim of keeping the horse 

 in the market. This was but the Crucifix business 

 over again, transferred from the son to the father, and 

 enacted at Goodwood. 



This display of vindictiveness on his lordship's 

 part brings me to the consideration of a subject — the 

 cause of Lord George's leaving Danebury — which I 

 would willingly leave untouched, content with what I 

 have said on the subject in my previous work, were it 

 not that the matter has been grievously misrepre- 

 sented. I may at all events relate some of the more 

 interesting and important circumstances connected 

 with this memorable event. There were many reasons 

 given for his leaving his old quarters, and, as in other 

 like cases, those that seemed the most plausible and 

 probable were wrong. Rumour asserted my brother 

 John betted more than he ought to have done, and in 

 doing so betrayed the secrets of the stable. But this 

 did not consequentially follow. Furthermore, it has 

 been said that he had written two letters, one to his 



