116 MOST MEN HAVE THEIR PRICE. 



temper. I should say a long striding horse heavily 

 weighted would not go up the hill on Lichfield Course 

 quite like a bird. They say, a pig may fly ; but we 

 allow him to be a most unpromising aeronaut. I 

 consider a horse that extends himself too much 

 with weight on him to be in a general way as un- 

 promising a winner. 



If it is supposed, from what I have said of trainers 

 and public training establishments, that I entertain 

 an unfavourable opinion of the former on the score of 

 integrity, or of the latter from thinking that in a 

 general way any wilful neglect takes place in them, 

 I beg to say that I really entertain no such impressions 

 of either. So much the reverse are my convictions 

 respecting trainers, that I verily believe there is no 

 class of men living who so frequently resist temptation 

 to do wrong. As trainers and jockeys of the higher 

 orders, their temptations are great in amount and of 

 daily occurrence. Let three-and-twenty thousand 

 pounds be offered as a temptation to many men now 

 ranking high on the Turf or in the world's general 

 opinion, are we sure all of such men would resist such 

 a fortune as a bribe ? I have the honour of being 

 acquainted with many that I am sure would ; but I 

 think I know of some where the result would be very 

 doubtful ; nay, who I am quite sure would throw 

 over their friends as well as the public in a race on 

 such terms. If three-and-twenty thousand are not 

 offered every day or year, the odd three are, and that 

 to some trainers or some jockeys would be as difficult 

 to resist as the larger sum to the man of larger 

 means. The matter of our surprise, therefore, should 

 be, not that such men sometimes are led away by 

 unprincipled bribes offered, and persuasion made use 



