almost before winter had set in, on the 11th November 1868, he gave up
the struggle and drew his last breath--"leaving neither heir to his
honours nor the smallest vestige of his ruined fortune; but leaving, in
spite of his final failure, the memory of a true sportsman, and of a
perfect gentleman who was no man's enemy but his own."

* * * * *

Before the Marquess of Hastings had mounted his first pony another
meteor of the Turf, equally dazzling, had flashed across the sky, and
been merged in a darkness even more tragic than his own.


Lord William George Frederick Cavendish Bentinck, commonly known and
loved as "Lord George," who was cradled at Welbeck in February 1802, was
the second son of the fourth Duke of Portland, a keen sportsman who won
the Derby of 1809 with Teresias. The boy thus had the love of sport in
his veins; and a passion for racing was the dominant note in his too
brief life from the day, in 1833, when he started a small stud of his
own, to that fatal day on which, piqued by his repeated failure to win
the coveted "blue riband," he sold every horse in his stables at a word,
and abandoned the Turf in despair.

"Lord George Bentinck," wrote Thormanby, a few years ago,
"was the idol of the sportsmen of his own day. The
commanding personality of the man threw a spell over all
with whom he was brought into contact; they were
half-fascinated, half-awed--judgment and criticism
surrendered to admiration. There are still veterans left,
like old John Kent, who talk with bated breath of Lord