COLONEL MELLISH.

Otago Witness, Issue 1890, 10 February 1888, Page 25

COLONEL MELLISH.

The Meteor of the Turf.

(Licensed Victuallers' Gazette.)

Among the many extraordinary romances which are to be found in the annals of the Turf there are few so remarkable as the life of the famous Yorkshire gentleman whose portrait we are about to sketch; indeed, were we called upon to epitomise in one career every phase of that fascinating, exciting, and most dangerous amusement we should unhesitatingly select that of the gallant Colonel, who for a time was the most brilliant meteor in the racing firmament. The Mellishes, of Blythe, near Doncaster, were one of those fine old families of which Yorkshire used to be so proud; and it was at their ancestral seat that the future great racing star was born, in the year 1780. At Eton he was equally noted for the almost intuitive manner in which he mastered the classics, and his wild uncontrollable disposition, which rebelled against all discipline and restraint. When only 17 years of age he was an officer in the 18th Light Dragoons; but in less than a year afterwards we find him transferred into the crack regiment of the day — the famous 10th Hussars — of which the Prince Kegent was Colonel, and the officers were the richest and most extravagant scions of nobility, or the most consummate dandies — Brummell to wit — of the day. His father dying during his minority, George Mellish succeeded to a magnificent property and a splendid fortune on his one and twentieth birthday, and from that time started on A Course of Wild, yet Superb Extravagance, such as is hardly to be found except among the heroes of " Ouida," for whom he might have served as a model. So reckless was his expenditure * that even the spendrifts of " the 10th " could not keep pace with him, and the Prince gave him a permanent leave of absence, from an apprehension that this son of Midas might ruin half the regiment by his reckless example. Mellish commenced his connection with the Turf at the Durham races in 1801, when a horse of his, called Welshman, won him a 50-guinea match. From that hour he became one of the most ardent patrons of the national sport. His establishment was enormous. He had at one time 38 racehorses in training, 17 carriage horses, a dozen hunters in Leicestershire, four chargers at Brighton, and hacks innumerable. Nobles and princes sank into insignificance when his equipage galloped on to the racecourse. Driving four white horses in hand, with outriders on matches, ridden with harness bridles, and holsters at the saddlebow, his barouche painted in exquisite taste, the handsome Colonel was indeed the observed of all observers, as, whirling up to the grand stand, tossing his reins on either hand, and descending as if unseen, or the quietest man in life, he mounted one of the thoroughbred hacks, led by the saddle-horse groom, who was habited, like the rest of his people, in crimson livery, and followed by three other grooms, cantered over the course, As he gallops along, the cynosure of every eye, let us endeayoui: to sketch