126 Silk and Scarlet • 



some seasons before his death under 8st. lolbs., and 

 wore and -fretted himself away in getting off the other 

 3lbs. Had the Ham and Gratwicke scale superseded 

 the 8st. /lb., which just crushes the heart out of many 

 a jockey, we might, humanly speaking, have had 

 Frank yet. His general wasting diet was champagne 

 and toast ; and he would take a pint of the former 

 directly his walk was over, and have a little gruel and 

 brandy from a soda-water bottle after each race. With 

 such severe exercise to contend with, it is only a 

 matter of wonder that he was able to take his waste 

 walks so long, and ride so brilliantly to the very close. 

 Nothing but the deepest love of it could have made 

 him persevere along day after day ; sometimes scarcely 

 shedding half a pound down, as the side wind suited 

 him, to the Bell at Kennet, or the Cock at Dulling- 

 ham, where cheery Mother Onion of yore used to re- 

 count to her muffled visitors the glories of her port 

 wine and her own Suffolk-bred nags. It was on one of 

 the latter, stepping out at the rate of fourteen miles an 

 hour, that Sam Rogers did much of his wasting to- 

 wards the close of his career in the saddle, clad in a 

 coat with a cape that closed over his head into a 

 Benedictine cowl, to keep the warm atmosphere in. 

 In the summer of 1858, Johnny Osborne wasted after 

 a much more primitive fashion, when /lbs. had to be 

 got off for his Vedette mount at York. Starting from 

 Ownby Paddocks, near Caistor, in a heavy woollen 

 suit, he walked along with his brother in charge of six 

 brood mares and three foals. Gainsboro' was their 

 point on the first night, Doncaster on the second, and 

 Leeds on the third, and on the following day they 

 reached Middleham. 



Conduct of Mas- The race of masters, has, as some good 

 ters to Jockeys, and true-hearted jockeys know to their 

 cost, sadly degenerated. Salaries and presents may 

 be thrice as large, but all consideration for their feel- 

 ings seem to be at times utterly forgotten. Because 



