464 CONCLUSION. 



remember that as ' Caesar's wife should be above 

 suspicion,' so a nobleman's actions should be noble, 

 and compare the turf career of Lord George with that, 

 for instance, of the late Lord Durham, or of Sir 

 Edward B. B. Baker — men who raced for the benefit 

 of the community, and not for their individual plea- 

 sure or profit — we cannot but admit that Lord George 

 was often moved hy an unworthy spirit of intrigue to 

 do things that were selfish, sordid, and even base, and 

 which, taken in the best light, aimed only to fulfil a 

 poor ambition to reign supreme over others. Take 

 the varnish from the picture, and we find him not, as 

 is the popular belief, and as he doubtless wished him- 

 self to be believed, ' affable, just, and generous,' but 

 rather 'arrogant, self-seeking, and mean.' 



The honoured names of Lords Palmerston and 

 Lynedoch, and other racing-men of their stamp, will 

 live in the esteem of rising generations, when those 

 of such men as Lord George, Hill and Gully, will be 

 lost in oblivion. Nor must we forget the good done 

 to racing by the creditable part played in it by such 

 men as Mr. Parker, and men of his class ; whilst the 

 less that is said the better, of such foolish gentlemen 

 as Mr. Starkey and others, who ruin themselves and 

 discredit the national sport, no one knows how. 



The portions that treat of trials have, I know, 

 necessarily a technical character, which may hardly 

 fit them to appear as reminiscences ; but that they 

 are so in the strictest sense cannot be doubted. And 



