54 The Post and the Paddock, 



witch. Hotspur's not winning the Derby made a dif- 

 ference to him of some 50,000/., and Barbarian's failure, 

 of nearly twice that sum. The Londoners also backed 

 Voltigeur to such an extent with him, that nearly 

 40,000/. was paid over his list-counter alone about 

 " the lusty Richmond stallion." He was also hit 

 heavily in Teddington's year, and the 15,000/. cheque 

 which he sent Mr. Greville the morning after the race, 

 stamped him at once as a very mine of Peru. Mrs. 

 Taft and Truth were great pulls for him that autumn, 

 and the public set the joint gain at 45,000/. After 

 his winter Derby deposits came in, he was supposed to 

 have entered on his 1852 campaign with 130,000/. at 

 the Westminster Bank (whose heads would, as the 

 story ran, rise to accommodate him at any hour of the 

 night ! ); but on this as well as every other calculation, 

 "be the same more or less" must be the conveyancing 

 motto ever present to the reader's mind. He re- 

 sembled, in fact, Captain O'Kelly in his zenith, who, 

 when he was asked, after taking a heavy bet, where 

 his estates lay, responded that, " By the powers, I hev 

 the map o' them about me," and produced a perfect 

 roll of Bank Notes ; or the old miser near Doncaster, 

 who went to a great land sale in his filthy rags, and a 

 hayband round his waist, and astounded the auc- 

 tioneer, who wondered where the deposit was to come 

 from, by holding up a 100,000/ Bank Note (one of the 

 few ever made), and saying, " Heres the cock ; Fve got 

 the old Jien at Jiome ! " Henceforward, the tide of ill- 

 luck always flowed steadily against him at Epsom. 

 Daniel O'Rourke is said to have cost him 30,000/, as 

 he had been duly "got " at 100 to I. Catherine Hayes 

 cost him about the same, and West AustraHan 48,000/., 

 of which 30,000/. went in a cheque to Mr. Bowes. At 

 Chester, in 1852, he was fairly beset by the infatuated 

 backers of Nancy ; and there he stood, while they 

 almost fought who should first thrust their 5/. notes 

 into his hands, and see themselves pencilled down at 



