38 THE BLUE RIBBON OF THE TURF. 



His memory, it must be admitted, is somewhat clouded 

 by questionable actions. A Newmarket visitor of that 

 time Avrites : ' There was Mr. Frampton, the oldest and, 

 as they say, the cunningest jockey in England, [The 

 word 'jockey' is here made use of in the dictionary 

 sense.] One day he lost a thousand guineas, the next 

 he won two thousand, and so on alternately. Ho 

 made as light of throwing away £500 or £1,000 at a 

 time as other men do of their pocket-money, and was 

 as perfectly calm, cheerful, and unconcerned when he 

 had lost £1,000 as when he had won £1,000.' 



In the days of Frampton betting had become com- 

 mon ; indeed, he was one of the chief instigators of that 

 mode of speculation, and the first person in all proba- 

 bility who ' arranged ' a race on the lines now so well 

 known and so often adopted. Of the scenes at New- 

 market in the latter days of Frampton, when horse- 

 racing had become more of a ' business ' at the chief 

 seat of sport than it was in earlier days, the visitor 

 alreaily referred to says : ' I had the opportunity to 

 see the horse-races and a great concourse of the 

 nobility and gentry, as well from London as other 

 parts of England ; but they were all so intent, so 

 eager, so busy upon the sharping part of the sport, 

 their wagers, their bets, that to me they seemed just 

 as so many horse-coursers in SmithHeld ; descending 

 the greatest of them from the high dignity and quality 

 to the picking one another's pockets, and biting one 

 anotlier as much as possible, and with so much eager- 

 ness, as it might be said, they acted without respect 

 to faith, honour, or good names.' 



It was wittily said that ' sin came upon the turf 



