e does not appear to have had time from his
devotion to politics and racing to take any high position in the Order.
As to some of his personal habits it may be said that he was not a
smoker; but he drank four glasses of wine at dinner-time.

The figure of Lord George has been described by his friend Benjamin
Disraeli, afterwards Earl of Beaconsfield, in a few striking sentences
thus: "Nature had clothed this vehement spirit with a material form
which was in perfect harmony with its noble and commanding character. He
was tall and remarkable for his presence; his countenance almost a model
of manly beauty; the face oval, the complexion clear and mantling; the
forehead lofty and white; the nose aquiline and delicately moulded; the
upper lip short. But it was in the dark brown eye that flashed with
piercing scrutiny that all the character of the man came forth; a
brilliant glance, not soft, but ardent, acute, imperious, incapable of
deception or of being deceived."

He was a dandy rivalling d'Orsay, his cravats made other young men of
his time envious, and his suits were in the highest style of taste. They
were indeed works of art worthy of the genius of Beau Brummell. As for
the House of Commons, until he turned serious politician, he treated
that old-fashioned assembly with haughty indifference, and when he was
pressed to record his vote in party division he entered the House on
more than one occasion at a late hour, "clad in a white great-coat,
which softened, but did not conceal, the scarlet hunting coat beneath
it."

He was a breeder and backer of horses for twenty years, and the
recklessness of his wagers staggered the gamblers of his time.

The training of race-horses was brought to a fine art in his day. It had
been the custom for owners to send their horses to and fro between
Newmarket, Epsom and Doncaster along the high-ways, with the result
that although the road hardened their muscles, it militated against
their speed.

Lord George raised a protest from some of the old-time patrons of the
turf by introducing an innovation in the construction of a large van in
which they could travel calmly, without fatigue, these long distances to
various parts of England.

It was the precursor of railway travelling then coming into vogue, for
Lord George foresaw that the railways would revolutionize racing and
enormously increase the votaries of the turf.

After having sat in the House of Commons for 18 years, and takin