Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-03-31
hORD WILTON.
A Leader in Fashioit and sport
ing for Over Half q
Century.

LONDON, March 8.-Ifany man can
be said to have been the incarnation
Of English love Of sport, that man was
the Earl Of Wilton, who died yester-
day morning. On the turf, as a
yatchtsman and in the, hunting field
he was alike famous. With great
name and a great fortune, which cir
cumstances made greater, he inherited
perfect physical constitution. Born
in 1893, he retained till within a very
few years a degree of energy and en-
durance which few men ever know
past middle life. For quite fifty years
he was in the flower and prime of
manhood. Abilities he certainly had.
He showed ability in the management
of his estate. and in his multifarious
dealings with many classes Of able
men, but he never chose to use them
in public life, as public life is com
monty understood. he was content to
be the best gentleman jockey of his
time, aud to ride to hounds longer and
harder and better than anybody else.
In short, he lived his life day by day.
He was leader of fashion, and his
Derby dinner, given for | do not know
how many years in succession at his
house in Grosvenor Square, on the eve
of the great race, was one of the few
festivities to which invitations were
really coveted. Itisrecorded of Lord
Wilton-and like everything else, with
friendly pride in the tone of the
chronicler-that great surgeon was
spoiled when he was born to a title.
He used to walk the hospitals, and it
has never hecn forgotten that it was
Lord Wilton who tied up the great
artery in Mr.. Huskissol.s leg when he
was run over by the engine in that
memorable first railway excursion from
Liverpool to Manchester in 1880. He
was musician also, and an author,
but his exploits in art and literature
do not seem to be spoken of with en-
thusiasm. ~
Why Lord Wilton was called the
wicked Earl is question to which
many people must be capableof Civ.
ing an answer, and which for the
present remains nevertheless un.
answered. A cOnjectural explana-
ton is offered Of rather a feeble kind.
Lord Wilton was the owner Of cele-
brated yacht, the Zarifa, which beat
everything else in its time. 1t was
darby whispered that this yacht had |
been a SLAYER. which believe was
true, and that Lord Wilton had him
self commanded her in some very
queer expeditions. which | believe
was quite untrue. Other stories
there are, perhaps less mysterious and
more plausible, but am not going to
be the first to mention them in print.
HereAlly belonged to the aristooraoy
of the past. The may | not do
what | like with mine own" spirit
was strong within him; mime own"
including not only property, as with
the Duke of Newcastle, but gifts and
qualities and capacities which he chose
to squander. That, Of course, is not |
the verdict his associates, or which |
large classes Of the English people.
would render 1t is enough for them
that Lord Wilton lived lie of pleas
ure and sport, and lived it brilliantly. |
They would think few eulogies higher
than that of the rough rider Dick |
Christian: His Lordship is as good |
now as he was nigh forty years since"
the nov" being 1858, when he
was still the center Of the first fight |
When he had to reliuquish that hon.
orable place, and later when be gave
up hunting. he said himself: "At
least, il | can no longer ride to hounds
as in the days gone by, can die at the
place | love best on earth" He has
had his wish. He died at Melton
MoWbray, the headquarters of the
hunting world; Of the world in which
he was perhaps most honored and by
which be will be longest remembered.
n II