THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT'S RETIREMENT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXXI, Issue 10335, 30 April 1894, Page 3

THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT'S RETIREMENT.

[prom our own corbespondbnt.l London, March 2. The retirement of the Duke of Beaufort from the turf next month (when his entire breeding and racing studs will be sold without reserve) promises to be more permanent than it was in 1868, when the ruin of his friend and colleague the Marquis of Hastings pulled his Grace up with a sharp turn. The ’ Badminton string at Danebury was at that time the finest in England. What such animals would fetch now it is impossible to say. Even then the sale created a tremendous sensation, and as times went the prices were enormous. the speedy Lord Donald fetched lSsogs, Gomera (a Goodwood Stakes winner) IOOOgs, Virides 2000ga, Yauban. 3200ga, Europa IOOOgs and. the Zoe colt 1060gS, with fair prices for twenty more lots.- The bargain of the sale was a colt by, Qlenrpassqn put; of - Figtree, for whom Geoiga Fdrdman , gave 90gs. He, named him Vestminater, and won the Cambridgeshire and a - fortune with him. The Duke of Beaufort's lust turf career meant Danebury and the Hastings era. He won £20,000. oyer Lecturer’s Cesarewitch, and the Grand Prize of Paris fell to him by the aid of Ceylon in 1865. Vauban had a tremendous career in 1867. He could not go down hill; and so lost the Derby; bub he captured the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Ascot, and the Gold Cup also, and would have landed the Leger had less use been made of him. To chronicle all the coups and reverses of the Hastings era would fill columns. That brief but brilliant period ended with the Danebury sale and “ poor Harry’s ” early death. When the Duke reappeared on the turf it was as a tried tactician and limited bettor. He has bad a fair share of races these last twenty years, but awful luck. The Duke is an intense believer in the Muscovite blood, and one of the last mares Musket served before leaving England was Petronel’s dam._ Petronel won the Two Thousand, and hie Grace’s other lucky coups include Eeve D’Or’s One Thousand, Oaks and City and Suburban; Ragimunde’s Cesarewitch, Carlton’s Manchester Cup, Faugh-a-Ballagh’s Alexandra Plate, Pepper and Salt’s Prince of Wales s Stakes, &c. On the reverse side of the medal must be placed the failure of some of the greatest turf certainties ever known. How Carlton came to lose the Cambridgeshire of ’B6, and City and Suburban of ’B7, no one will ever be able to understand. Alec Taylor tried him highly, and subsequent form showed he must, on both occasions, have bad nearly a stone in hand. Presumably a boy could not extend him. The failure of The Coh in the Cesarewitch of ’B6 also proved a great disappointment. He came into the Abingdon Mile bottom with such a lead that the touts telegraphed him all over the country as the winner. Unfortunately Stone Clink was not done with. Half way up the hill she got on terms with the Manton colt. The latter ought still to have won, but his tiny jockey had no strength left wherewith to finish, and the race was snatched from him literally on the post. , , , The Duka of Beaufort’s studs do not now contain any specially famous animals, but there is plenty of good staying blood, some of which should go to Australia.

The following " fancy portrait ” of the Duke of Beaufort was sketched two or three years ago, , , The Beauforts claim to he descended from John of Gaunt, "time-honoured Lancaster,” and have, therefore, the blood of the Plantagenets flowing in their veins. It is true that the .lineage was crossed by the bar sinister; but Edward the Ill’s famous son had all his children by Catherine Swynford, whom he eventually married, legitimated, and gave them the name of Beaufort from the castle in Anjou, where they were born. One of the sons was the celebrated Cardinal Beaufort, a name familiar to all readers of Shakspere’s Henry VI, his death-bed scene in the second part of .that "history” being an often-quoted passage. Recent historians have, however, whitewashed the Cardinal, who ulayed so important a role during the Wars"of the Roses, from the crimes imputed to him by old chroniclers, and make him out to have been a very good fellow indeed. It was from the eldest of Catherine Swynford’s sons. Sir John Beaufort, created in 1396 Earl of Somerset, and afterwards Marquis of Dorset, that the house of Beaufort is descended, through Charles Somerset, an illegitimate son of Sir John’s successor, Henry Duke of Somerset. Charles, however, was a man of such commanding talents that be was created, by Henry YIIL, Earl of Worcester. Henry, the fifth Earl, was a hero both of history and romance. His defence of England Castle for his Royal master, Charles 1., from 1642 to 1646 with a garrison of 800 men, without during all that time levying contributions upon the country, has been celebrated in both fact and fiction. The son of this nobleman, Edward, Marquis of Worcester, was a great scientist, who first described the power and apolication of the steam engine, in a work entitled " A Century of Inventions,” published in 1655. In this he gives an account of a steam apparatus, by means of which he raised a column of water to the height of 40 feet, and to him, therefore, belongs the honour of being tlw pioneer of the greatest of modern discoveries. It was the son of this Marquis whom Charles 11. created Duke of Beaufort, and from that time Marquis of Worcester became the title of the eldest son of the house. Henry Charles Fitzroy Somerset, eighth Duke of Beaufort, who now holds the title, waa bora in February, 1824. _ As Marquis of Worcester he held a commission in the 7th Hussara, and was one of the most noted dandies of the day. Perhaps at the period when the young Marquis began to see life English society was at its best. The disreputable “ bucks, bloods, and Corinthians” of the Regency and last Georgian days, the Major Hangers, Colonel Berkeleys, Sir John Lades, Beau Biummels, Barrymores', &c., had died out or sown their wild oats, and their successors, thanks to the influence of a purer Court, grew up to respect the convenances and decencies of society. It was in 1853 that Henry Fitzroy eucceeded to the title, and resigning his commission in the Hussars, he turned his military knowledge to account by taking the command of the Royal Gloucestershire "Yocmaary* But the Duko*s deeds of “ derring-do ” have been principally confined to the hunting-field. Situated in one of the finest of the English shires— Gloucestershire la a park with a circumference of nine miles, in the midst of a magnificent range of country. Badminton, the seat of the Beauforts, is peculiarly favourable for field sports, and for generations the Beauforts have been our greatest hunting family. The walls of the Mansion are hung with ancient pictures of famous sporting events and famous hounds, some painted centuries back. From an early date staghounds were kept here, but these iu 1760 wore exchanged for foxhounds. Hunting at Badminton had always been conducted on a grand scale, with all the pomp and circumstance of the feudal ages, and the meet ou Badminton lawn, which, more than one painter has done justice to, was one of the sights of rural England. When the present Duke came to the title the hounds were in great perfection under the care of William Long, who had hunted tor the family for half-a-centnry. In 1555, however, the Duke elected to be himuelf huntsman and carry the horn. Three years later tliomaa Clarke undertook the esie of the kennel, and continued to hold the appointment until 1868, when the Marquis of. Worcester rukd the roast. During the time of the last two dukes, the grand meofca had fallen into desuetude, but it had long been the desire of the new owner of Badminton to revive them iu all their ancient glory; the occasion of a visit of the Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess Mary offered an excellent opportunity, and on Feb. 8, 1859, it w-»s advertised that tfce hounds would inset oa the iavm. The announcement cau.-ed the greatest seaeatio n auioag gentle and simple throughout the west country. Many among them were too young to have

witnessed these gatherings themselves, but had frequently heard them enthusiast!- j dally described by their elders. On the eventful day. as the appointed hour drew near, carriages and horsemen might have been seen approaching in droves from every 'entrance; the assembly was immense, as may be judged from the fact that some five hundred persons sat down to the luxurious dejeuner provided for the delectation, of the visitors. Carriages were arranged two or three deep on the margin of the drive which is three miles long; the aristocracy for an immense distance round, foreign magnates from London, dusky, citizens of Bristol, celebrities from all parts, all the Beaufort Hunt and representatives from all the neighbouring Hunts were present. Just before noon the hounds arrived, eighteen splendid couples selected from the mixed pack, with the huntsmen and whippers-in clad in the Beaufort livery, blue with bnfl facings, and the second horsemen in green plush, the rear being brought up by some two thousand two hundred stalwart yeomanry. . No. finer or more imposing spectacle could be imagined; here was the English noble in the plenitude of his power and splendour, a real potentiality; here was a picture which preserved all the picturesqueness of medievalism without its tyranny and barbarism* There was plenty of sport for both hounds and huntsmen, for the park contained two thousand head of deer, of which three hundred were red deer, with game of every kind in abundance, and roxes galore, as may be judged from the fact that sixty-four representatives of Monsieur Reynard were once killed in a single season. Sport at Badminton, where its owner keeps open house, has always been on a princely scale; the stables, as a rule, contain about seventy horses, of which about forty-five are hunters. The great mansion, erected in 1682 by the first Duke, is a magnificent specimen of French architecture of the Louis Quatorze style, of which Versailles ia the chef d’ceuvre ; it is celebrated for its priceless works of art, pictures by Eafiaelle, Carlo Dolci, Guido, Salvator Rosa, &c, moat of which were brought from Rome by the third Duke. There are also fourteen family portraits, going back to John of Gaunt. It was about 1855 that the blue and white hoops and red cap of the Duke of Beaufort were first seen on a racecourse. The Duke commenced racing on a very small scale. In 1854 he purchased a foal he named Furioso at her Majesty’s yearling sale at Hampton Court, and placed it under the care of John Day at Danebury. A couple of races, the Hurstbourne Stakes at Stockbridge, and a Selling Stakes at Newmarket, were all that Furioso placed to his owner’s account. In the meantime he had purchased other racers Vigil, half-sister to the notorious Cruiser (of Rarey fame). Lass of Richmond Hill, Schoolboy, and Gin: Gin captured the Lansdowne Biennial at Bath, and the July Stakes at Newmarket, and was considered good enough to be backed for the Derby, won by Beadsman. In 1857 the Duke was elected a Steward of the Jockey Club ia the place of the Earl of Zetland, resigned. At thia time he was one of the famous Danebury plunging brigade, fostered by clever old John Day.au d the blue and white hoops, the scarlet and white of the Marquis of Hastings, the green and white of the Earl of Westmoreland, and the violet and white of the Duke of Newcastle were closely associated and extremely popular on every racecourse. His first important win was the One Thousand Guineas of 1865 with Sabrina, Fordham up, which was the commencement of that famous jockey’s afterwards close connection with the Lord of Badminton. During the following season Rustic was greatly fancied for the Derby, and .it was a terrible blow to the Danebury party, whose money he carried to a pretty considerable tune, when he only managed to get third to Lord Lyon and Savernake, all three, by a curious coincidence, sons of the mighty Stockwell. Ceylon, however, made a good thing for hia ducal owner by capturing the Craven Stakes and the Grand Prix de Paris. In 1867 Vaubau won the Two Thousand guineas in such good style that he became a hot favourite for the Derby. On that never-to-be-for-gotten day Vauban was the observed of all observers, no one had an eye for any other horse, unless it was for that beautiful galloper, Marksman. All through the blue and white hoops were to the fora, and the yellow jacket of Mr Merry close behind, until suddenly a horse that bad only evoked the contemptuous pity of the knowing ones, carrying the rose jacket of young Mr Chaplin, poor Hermit, who had broken a blood vessel not long before, and was considered quite outside the range of possibility, dashed through the drifting snowstorm and won by a neck. How terrible were the consequences to the plunging brigade was exemplified iu the Marquis of Hastings, and his r fellow plungers were all hard hit. Vauban afterwards won the Goodwood Cup and another, Beaufort horse, Gomera, the Goodwood Stakes; but the Derby defeat had given our Duke enough of racing for the time, and in 1868 he sold off all his horses that were in training, the sale realising *£15,480. Nevertheless, in the following season he took the One Thousand Guineas with the roaring Scottish Queen. From that time until 1880 when he again won the Two Thousand with Petronel, George Fordham up, the Duke of Beaufort's connection with the Turf was very irregular. Neither has he figured vary prominently since. Among the best of his recent horses was The Cob; he won the Oaks with EAved’ Or in 1887, but last year did not win a single race. This year’s City and Suburban fell to him, and be has won a hurdle race at Kempton. If ever there was an all-round sportsman it ia the man of whom we are talking. In his younger days he was a noted whip, and though he seldom now handles the ribbons, he is still president of the Pourin - Hand and the Coaching Clubs. Badminton has always been a great place for cricket practice, and its owner has ever taken the greatest interest in the Gloucestershire team, being the original mover of the national testimonial presented to Dr Grace in 1877, when the Duke was

president of the M.C.C. The master of Badminton ia still as much a man about town as he was in the days of the dandies, and he is . equally at home in all companies—-in the hunting-field, on the racecourse, as a country gentleman, in literary and artistic salons, in the drawingrooms of Belgravia, behind the scenes of the theatre, or in the jollification of a Bohemian gathering—and he passes from one society to the other without effort and as though each was equally agreeable to him. The Duke of Beaufort has no town house, but lives in apartments near St James’s Park. A clover observer has described him as “ a genial, open-handed rep* resentative of the English country squire, with the title of a great peer and the top dressing of a man about town,”