The Life of Fred Archer 253 
Coming into the straight Melton was two lengths to the 
front, but below the distance there came a determined challenge 
from Lord M. Bradford's Isobar. Archer just pricked Melton 
with his spur, and he bounded forward eventually to win in 
a canter by six lengths. 
One of the treasured possessions of the Hastings family 
after the St. Leger was a telegram from the late King Edward, 
who was then Prince of Wales. He was then at Fredensborg, 
and he wired to Lord Hastings : " Congratulate you on Melton's 
success. — Albert Edward." 
Naturally the dual victory of Melton brought back memories 
of his great gambling predecessor, and " Vigilant and the 
Wizard " of his day wrote : 
" Lord Hastings has now won the Derby and St. Leger, 
a fact which makes a man famous, and yet the probability is 
that in the years to come, in looking back on the double victory 
of Melton, the popular mind will associate the horse with the 
memory of the last of the Plantagenets rather than that of 
the unassuming nobleman who is his proud possessor. 
" The fourth Marquis of Hastings dying without issue, the 
title became extinct. Looking back on the great chief of 
the plunging era, and remembering the space which he occupies 
in the popular mind, it seems almost incredible that he was 
only twenty-six years old when he was laid to his rest. From 
his short but marvellous career not one element of romance 
was lacking, and though he has now been in his grave nearly 
twenty years, but mention his name to one of the old com- 
panions, and a look of sadness will come over his face, and in a 
far-off manner he will say, ' The very best of fellows.' 
" The good fortune that was denied to the lord of Doning- 
ton has been amply vouchsafed to his namesake of Melton 
Constable. We wonder what the man who is dead would have 
done with the Ring, had he, say, in the year 1866, owned a 
horse of the caHbre of Melton ? In the language of the late 
