The Greville Memoirs, Part 2 (of 3), Volume 1 (of 3): A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1852Greville, Charles
History
The Greville Memoirs, Part 2 (of 3), Volume 1 (of 3): A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1852
Greville, Charles
Great Britain -- History -- Victoria, 1837-1901
Since August 30th, nearly two months, I have written not a line,
for I have had nothing to record of public or general interest,
and have felt an invincible repugnance to write about myself or
my own proceedings. Having nothing else to talk of, however, I
shall write my own history of the last seven weeks, which is very
interesting to me inasmuch as it has been very profitable. Having
asked George Bentinck to try my horse 'Mango' before Doncaster,
we went down together one night to Winchester race-course and saw
him tried. He won the trial and we resolved to back him. This we
accomplished more successfully than we expected, and ten days
after he won the St. Leger, and I won about L9,000 upon it, the
first _great_ piece of good fortune that ever happened to me.
Since Doncaster, I have continued (up to this time) to win at
Newmarket, so that my affairs are in a flourishing condition,
but, notwithstanding these successes, I am dissatisfied and
disquieted in my mind, and my life is spent in the alternations
of excitement from the amusement and speculation of the turf and
of remorse and shame at the pursuit itself. One day I resolve to
extricate myself entirely from the whole concern, to sell all my
horses, and pursue other occupations and objects of interest, and
then these resolutions wax faint, and I again find myself buying
fresh animals, entering into fresh speculations, and just as
deeply engaged as ever. It is the force of habit, a still
unconquered propensity to the sport, and a nervous apprehension
that if I do give it up, I may find no subject of equal interest.
November 14th, 1837 {p.023}
[Page Head: CHARACTER OF LORD EGREMONT.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account