Heaton Park. 359 



R. W. Procter, a Manchester poet, has told us of 



" A party who went, on pleasure bent, 

 On a journey to Heaton park ;" 



but the spring-carts which carried the " Rough Robins" 

 and their ladye loves on Sept. 25th, 1827, when the 

 park was opened for races, harmonized very ill with 

 the Duke of Beaufort's four-in-hand, or with the team 

 of six piebalds driven by Mr. Knowles, the coach pro- 

 prietor. There was such a crush, that at three o'clock 

 the gates were closed, and the scrambling through the 

 hedges did such damage, that in future no one was 

 admitted without a ticket, and then only on horseback 

 or in a carriage. Then the great question arose, " Is 

 a truck a carriage ? " and it was argued for the ap- 

 pellant, that anything that could carry was a carriage, 

 provided it were drawn by a horse, ox, goat or dog. 

 The best illustration as to how a " carriage " should 

 be drawn was, when " The Squire " brought Tom 

 Thumb there in his match cart, and gave him some 

 rare " steps out " round the course. He rode Catherina 

 against Chancellor (Earl Wilton) in one of the finest 

 finishes ever seen in the park, but " my lord " had the 

 best of it on the post. " The Squire's " greatest vic- 

 tory was on Rush ; and coloured engravings of it may 

 be seen to this day. For two years running, Captain 

 White, who was then in his Melton heyday, won the 

 Matilda Gold Cup ; and Becher, " the captain with 

 the whiskers," after professionals had been admitted 

 in 1835, screwed in J agger first to John Scott's amaze- 

 ment, despite his vile temper and a broken stirrup 

 leather. Earl Wilton had the cream of the Whitewall 

 riding, and Whitewall then meant the Westminster 

 and Chesterfield lots. His lordship walked over twice 

 on Touchstone, and won upon Hornsea and Scroggins; 

 and he was also on Prizeflower, the great bashaw of 

 " cocktails," when Harkaway and Cruiskeen, the Irish 

 chestnuts, fell. Don John came on from Doncaster 



