314 Life and Times of " The Druid." 



Looking- thinner than she was in her 'sky 

 blue and white cap ' days, and with her great 

 hips and deep brisket more prominently 

 marked than ever, she seemed like the last 

 Turf relic of Lord George, whose heart was 

 at one time never far from these paddocks, 

 where Chalice, Slander, Homily, and Simony 

 are now roaming." 



Nowhere, however, is his peculiar love of 

 antiquity better marked than in his descrip- 

 tion of the growth of the Ring, which I ex- 

 tract from " Scott and Sebright" : — 



" Betting was as tardy in its growth as the 

 American aloe. Owners were ready enough 

 to put down money for a match, but did not 

 care to speculate deeply about other people's 

 horses. Much of that spirit still lingered 

 which had made Lord Grosvenor offer to 

 match any three out of his stable against the 

 same number of the Duke of Bedford's for 

 ten thousand ; but till book-making gradually 

 became a profession, getting the odds laid 

 was always a matter of difficulty, and it was 

 told as quite a marvellous thing that Sir John 

 Shelley should win nine thousand guineas on 

 Phantom's Derby in 1811. Another kind of 



