202 Silk and Scarlet, 



he felt sure he had got a treasure, and he was con- 

 vinced of the fact when he very soon found him to be 

 a stone better than the six-year-old Clothworker at 

 the Derby distance ; and able to give Tame a good 

 lump of weight over the T.Y.C. In short, he liked 

 him so much that but for his being not a little inte- 

 rested in Hobbie Noble's success, it was his intention 

 to have taken a Derby mount upon him, as he had 

 done upon Sponge four years before. Instead of this, 

 he rode him for the Aristocratic Handicap at Bath, in 

 which Justice, a three thousand and not a thirty-guinea 

 cast off from the Bedford stable, was a bad fourth to 

 him. Then misfortune descended, and he knocked his 

 hoof about so much by casting a shoe, that he had to 

 be kept in damp swabs all day, and be walked about, 

 hour after hour, on the dewy grass at night. With 

 this gentle encouragement, it grew sufficiently to bear 

 a shoe three weeks before Goodwood ; but even with 

 that short preparation, he beat the six-year-old Mel- 

 ford so easily at seven stone each, with nearly a stone 

 in hand, that they would not hedge a penny. 



His action was very short, and he had a peculiar power 

 of propelling himself with his fore-legs. He could not 

 bear to have his head confined, and his Queen's Plate 

 race the next year with Deerhound at Northampton 

 was very nearly lost from Marlow riding him by mis- 

 take in a martingale. He had also a very one-sided 

 mouth, and would hang to the left when he first came 

 to Benhams, the moment the rider dropped his hand ; 

 and hence Mr. Parr trotted him for months across 

 plough and fallow with his head at liberty, and would 

 never once indulge him by turning that way. The Good- 

 wood Stakes course suited him in this respect, as the 

 first mile was all to the left, and Wells had the strictest 

 injunctions to keep his whip in his left hand for fear of 

 accidents. 



Strange as it may seem, they had tried him nearly 

 a score of times at Newmarket, and liked him less 



