The Father of the Turf,

£350 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books · No longer available

"Engraved by John Jones Engraver Extraordinary to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, Principal Engraver to H.R.H. the Duke of York". Bottom reads: "This extraordinary character was born in the Reign of King Charles the First, when the Sports of Horse Racing commenced at Newmarket, and he was owner of the celebrated Horse Dragon, whose Portrait appears in a Frame in the Back Ground. The most remarkable event in the lives of this Gentleman his Horse Dragon, is most pathetically depicted by Dr. John Hawkesworth (in No. 37 of the Adventurer) in the following words, supposed to be spoken by the Horse in the Elysium of Beasts and Birds. 'It is true,' replied the Steed 'I was a favourite: but what avails it to be the favourite of caprice, avarice, and barbarity. My tyrant was a Man who had gained a considerable fortune by play, particularly by racing. I had won him many large sums, but being at length excepted out of every match, as having no equal, be regarded even my excellece with malignity, when it was no longer subservient to his interest. Yet I still lived in ease and plenty; and as he was able to sell even my pleasures, though my labour was [sic] become useless, I had a seraglio in which there was a perpetual succession of new beauties. At last, however, another competitor appeared. I enjoyed a new triumph by anticipation; I rushed into the field, panting for the conquest; and the first heat I put my master in possession of the stakes, which amounted to 1000 guineas. Mr. ___ the pro

• Binding: Hardcover

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