14 " LOOK HERE, UPON THIS riCTUKE, AND ON THIS." 



tablet of memory ever since : "I congratulate you on 

 losing the first bet you ever made : let it be the last : 

 never back your own horses (if you ever keep any,) 

 or those of any other person so long as you live : take 

 this advice from one who knows something about 

 these things, and has paid dearly for his knowledge." 

 — I did take his advice, and never made a bet to the 

 amount of hi. since. 



Here is a case that bears me out in my assertion 

 that betting heavily, not keeping race-horses, ruins 

 people (tlie Legs of course excepted). Had Mellish 

 confined himself to keeping his horses, his judgment 

 was so good — in breeding, buying, and then placing 

 them — that his winnings would have been a fortune. 

 This, however, he would not do. " Peace to his 

 manes ! " he had, I believe, every virtue but one — 

 prudence. 



I will mention another man nearly equally fortunate 

 as to his winnings by his horses as Mellish, though 

 in other respects " no more like him than I to Her- 

 cules," — the late John Beardsworth. Now, he knew 

 about as much of racing when he first went on the 

 Turf, as I do of the navigation of the poles, and in 

 fact very little at the last ; yet, from having come 

 into possession of poor Mytton's horses, he had at one 

 time perhaps a better stable of race-horses than any 

 man in England, got them well placed for him, and 

 consequently his winnings in Cups, Stakes, &c., 

 amounted to such an enormous sum that I should be 

 fearful of mentioning it lest my accuracy might be 

 doubted. Now, many persons, I dare say, to this day 

 think the Turf was his ruin : no such thing ; nor was 

 betting, for he, comparatively speaking, never betted 

 a shilling. Large contracts with Government in 



