He kept a bear to bait (as well as a chaplain to bully), and ferrets ran loose about Crompton as mice do in other houses.

He had a hunter for every week in the year, yet he often rode his horses to death.

He had a stud of racers, and it was this, or rather his belief in their powers, which eventually drained his vast resources.

Not one of them ever won a great race.

This was not their fault, nor that of their trainer, but his own; he interfered in their management, and would have things his own way; he would command every thing, except success, which was beyond his power, and in missing that he lost all.