The International Weekly Miscellany, Volume I. No. 9 | Page 5

Third
Georges. Like Wilmot Earl of Rochester, he pursued pleasure under
every shape, and with as much ardor at fourscore as he had done at
twenty. At the decease of his father, in 1731, he became Earl of March;
and he subsequently, in 1748, inherited his mother's earldom of Ruglen,
together with the family's estates in the counties of Edinburgh and
Linlithgow. These rich endowments of fortune, and a handsome person,
of which he was especially careful, combined to invest the youthful
Earl with no ordinary attractions, and the ascendency they acquired he
retained for a longer period than any one of his contemporaries; from
his first appearance in the fashionable world in the year 1746, to the
year he left it forever, in 1810, at the age of eighty-five, he was always
an object of comparative notoriety. There was no interregnum in the
public course of his existence. His first distinction he achieved on the
turf; his knowledge of which, both in theory and practice, equaled that
of the most accomplished adepts of Newmarket. In all his principal
matches he rode himself, and in that branch of equitation rivaled the
most professional jockeys. Properly accoutered in his velvet cap, red
silken jacket, buckskin breeches, and long spurs, his Lordship bore
away the prize on many a well-contested field. His famous match with
the Duke of Hamilton was long remembered in sporting annals. Both
noblemen rode their own horses, and each was supported by numerous
partisans. The contest took place on the race-ground at Newmarket, and
attracted all the fashionables of the period. Lord March, thin, agile, and
admirably qualified for exertion, was the victor. Still more celebrated

was his Lordship's wager with the famous Count O'Taafe. During a
conversation at a convivial meeting on the subject of 'running against
time,' it was suggested by Lord March, that it was possible for a
carriage to be drawn with a degree of celerity previously unexampled,
and believed to be impossible. Being desired to name his maximum, he
undertook, provided choice of ground were given him and a certain
period for training, to draw a carriage with four wheels not less than
nineteen miles within the space of sixty minutes. The accomplishment
of such rapidity staggered the belief of his hearers; and a heavy wager
was the consequence. Success mainly depending on the lightness of the
carriage, Wright of Long Acre, the most ingenious coach-builder of the
day, devoted the whole resources of his skill to its construction, and
produced a vehicle formed partly of wood and partly of whale-bone,
with silk harness, that came up to the wishes of his employer. Four
blood horses of approved speed were then selected, and the course at
Newmarket chosen as the ground of contest. On the day appointed,
29th of August, 1750, noble and ignoble gamesters journeyed from far
and near to witness the wonderful experiment; excitement reached the
highest point, and bets to an enormous amount were made. At length
the jockeys mounted; the carriage was put in motion, and rushing on
with a velocity marvelous in those times of coach traveling, but easily
conceived by us railway travelers of the nineteenth century, gained
within the stipulated hour the goal of victory."
* * * * *
THE DECAY OF GREAT FAMILIES.
Not the least valuable parts of Burke's just published "Anecdotes of the
Aristocracy," are a species of essay on the fortunes of families. The
following is from a chapter on their decadence:
"It has often occurred to us that a very interesting paper might be
written on the rise and fall of English families. Truly does Dr. Borlase
remark that 'the most lasting houses have only their seasons, more or
less, of a certain constitutional strength. They have their spring and
summer sunshine glare, their wane, decline, and death.' Take, for
example, the Plantagenets, the Staffords, and the Nevills, the three most
illustrious names on the roll of England's nobility. What race in Europe
surpassed in royal position, in personal achievement, our Henries and
our Edwards? and yet we find the great-great-grandson of Margaret

Plantagenet, daughter and heiress of George Duke of Clarence,
following the craft of a cobbler at the little town of Newport in
Shropshire, in the year 1637. Beside, if we were to investigate the
fortunes of many of the inheritors of the royal arms, it would soon be
discovered that
'The aspiring blood of Lancaster'
had sunk into the ground. The princely stream at the present time flows
through very humble veins. Among the lineal descendants of Edmund
of Woodstock, Earl of Kent, sixth son of Edward I., King of England,
entitled to quarter the Royal arms, occur Mr. Joseph Smart, of Hales
Owen, butcher, and Mr. George Wilmot, keeper of the turnpike-gate at
Cooper's Bank, near Dudley; and