CAREER OF THE MARQUESS OF HASTINGS. 241 
much scandal from the misapprehension of facts connected 
with the deeds of others. 
Racing requires capital, and if this be supplied by usurers 
it is not difficult to foretell the destiny of those who engage 
in it. Yet it is not racing which, though it has to bear the 
blame, deserves it ; rather should the obloquy cast by the 
ruin of needy clients fall on the extortioner. 
One case amongst a few in which the patrons of the turf 
have escaped this destructive snare may be cited. I allude 
to that of the Marquess of Hastings. His difficulties com- 
menced, it can hardly be doubted, at that period so fatal to 
many of our aristocracy—whilst at college. With youth and 
inexperience as their only guides, young men are at that 
time, often fleeced by more insatiable sharks than they will 
ever meet on the turf; and from the clutches of these foes 
some never escape, subsisting on borrowed money, and as a 
last resource taking to racing. I do not wish to be under- 
stood to say that the nobleman in question was driven to 
these extremities; but that he had suffered in this way to 
some extent, ‘there can be no doubt, for he was never 
considered rich. 
His lordship commenced racing early in life, his horses 
being originally trained and run in the name of a friend. 
Subsequently he removed them to Danebury, and raced in 
his own name, quickly becoming the “lion” of the turf. At 
this period no one hesitated to pronounce him a lost man. 
“He was in the hands of usurers and beset with harpies of 
every description,” it was said; either the one or the other 
being enough to effect his speedy ruin, it will be allowed. 
But the most that could fairly be said against him was, that 
he may have borrowed money at extravagant rates of interest, 
and as truthfully it should be added, that he repaid it. His 
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