no THE BLUE RIBBON OF THE TURF. 



one time or another Tattersall's has been frequented 

 by all the famous turf- men of England ; lords and 

 'legs,' peers and parvenues, priests and publicans, noble 

 captains and ignoble cads, have each in turn strutted 

 and fretted their brief hour at the Corner, which in 

 its time was the scene of many a turf tragedy, the 

 stage of countless intrigues, and the centre of numer- 

 ous plots and contrivances. At one time or another 

 racing men of all grades used to have business at 

 ' Tatt's ' ; some who were not possessed of the entrde to 

 the ' holy of holies ' had to wait in the ante-chamber, 

 in order to make or obtain their payments ; and we 

 have read of those who went to that famous resort to 

 pay or receive their thousands, or tens of thousands. 

 An old Scottish country gentleman, who was taken to 

 the Corner by a friend, was hoard on his return to say 

 that nothing surprised him so much as Tattersall's. 

 * Thoosands ! absolute thoosands ! chinge frae man to 

 man without so much as a " thank you" in return. I 

 wonder where all the money comes from ?' 



In the 3'ear 1848 the number of subscribers to the 

 subscription rooms at the Corner numbered 1,000 

 persons. At first the rooms were pretty much in the 

 possession of a coterie of rich exclusives, but in time, 

 as betting extended, and men wanted to win larger 

 sums of money than they could do from their com- 

 panions, the portals of Tattersall's required to be 

 widened, and men were admitted to the sacred 

 chambers who would not otherwise have been tolerated. 

 My lord felt no scruples in betting with a man in 

 Tattersall's, or on the race-course, on whom he would 

 have scowled had he sought admission to his house, 



