A story is told of Sir William Colepepper that, after he had ruined himself at the gaming-table by his reckless disregard of the value of money, his whole delight was to sit there and see others gradually ruined. But, unmanly and despicable as such conduct was, it has been remarked that in the history of gambling there were many more who followed in his steps.

Numerous anecdotes of card-playing are told about Mr. Payne-so well known on the British turf-who spent a large portion of his time at the card-table. Of these stories, two of the best were told in the Country Gentleman.

Ecarté was, about forty years ago, the fashionable private game of the day, and many was the merry bout thereat which Mr. Payne fought out with several distinguished adversaries. It is a tradition of Limmer's that he and Lord Albert Denison (afterwards the first Lord Londesborough) sat up all night at the famous, but now extinguished, hostelry, and that when they separated in the morning, Lord Albert having lost about £30,000, proceeded to the adjoining temple of Hymen at St. George's, Hanover Square, to be married to his first wife, Henrietta Maria Forester, the sister of Lady Chesterfield.

With the same antagonist, and playing at the same game, Mr. Payne once set out from London

in a post-chaise to pay a visit to a country house in the New Forest. They played all day, and when night fell a lamp in the roof of the chaise was lighted, and they proceeded to deal and propose without intermission. Mr. Payne was in the midst of a capital run of luck, with £100 staked on each game, when they both became aware that the chaise had stopped, and that the bewildered postboy, who had lost his way, was tapping lustily with the butt-end of his whip at the window of the post-chaise to solicit the attention of its occupants.

"What do you want?" said want?" said Mr. Payne, testily.

"Please, sir, I have lost my way.'

"Come and tell us when you have found it," was all the rejoinder that he could elicit.

VOL. I.

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CHAPTER VII.

HORSEMANSHIP.

Lord Westbury-Sir Francis Burdett-James CurrieCarlyle Lord Palmerston-Lord Macaulay-Sydney Smith-Lord Tenterden-Paley-Viscount ExmouthLord Eldon-Warren Hastings-Sir Walter ScottThe Duke of Wellington-Lord Barrymore-Charles Mathews-Sir Charles James Napier-Whyte Melville -Bishop Wilberforce-John Leech-Josiah Wedgwood -Charles Lever-Charles James Mathews-Henry Fawcett.

"WHO is your doctor?" asked a friend one day of Carlyle. "My best doctor," he replied, "is a horse." Like Carlyle, many of our eminent men have indulged largely in horsemanship as an exercise productive of health, apart from the enjoyment it affords. Lord Palmerston spent several hours on horseback every day, a habit which, he maintained, kept him in health, and if from any reason prevented taking his accustomed ride, he walked. Anyhow, equestrian exercise suited him,

considering how little ill-effect hard work had on his health.

Lord Westbury was never so happy as when on horseback, and when Sir Francis Burdett in his old age was one day asked by Haydon how he had contrived to keep his health in such vigour for so many years, he told him, amongst other things, that he hunted as much as he could. Sydenham held similar views, and how high an opinion he had of horse-exercise may be inferred from his own words on the subject:-" If any "If man were possessed of a remedy that would do equal good to the human constitution as riding gently on horseback twice a day, he would be in the possession of what was worth the philosopher's stone."

Then there was the well-known case of James Currie, the eminent physician of the last century. On his recovery from an illness which he regarded as the precursor of consumption-of which several of his family had already died-he regarded his cure as principally due to riding on horseback. Indeed, so impressed was he with this circumstance that he sent an account of his illness to Dr. Darwin, which appeared in the Zoonomia with the prefatory remarks:-" The following case subjoined of hereditary consumption is related by a physician of great ability and

very extensive practice; and, as it is his own case, abounds with much nice observation and useful knowledge; and as it has been attended with a favourable event, may give consolation to many who are in a similar situation, and shows that Sydenham's recommendation of riding, as a cure for consumption, is not so totally ineffectual, as is now commonly believed."

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On the other hand, it is curious to find a man like Lord Macaulay with the very opposite taste. His riding experiences were most amusing. He was highly timid of horseflesh, peculiarity which, of course, kept him from venturing on the saddle. Only one instance is given by Trevelyan in his delightful biography of his ever having done so, and that was on the back of a diminutive Sheltie in one of his Scotch tours, while a huge native walked on guard at the bridle rein. Once when he was setting off on a visit to Windsor, and it was intimated to him that a ridinghorse as well as a saddle would be at his disposal, he made answer that if the Queen wished him to ride she must send an elephant with a howdah, as he could not undertake to keep his seat on any less secure conveyance.

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But Lord Macaulay was not alone in this respect, many of our eminent men of the sent century having had little or no taste for this sort of recreation. Some, too, have