The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1861-06-04 00:00:00

THE DERBY.
(Abridged trout the Tines of Thuriday.)

After contrasting the circumstances attending an
English and a French race, the writer proceed. as
follows :—The road down was as crowded and dusty
as the road always is on a Derby-day, which ill saying
a very great deal in a very few words. The great
southern centre of bustle and confusion, the Elephant
and Castle. was as thronged and as beset as ever.
Everything seemed to muster there previous to starting,
from swell drag., crowded outside with fast young men,
and inside with turnip radishes with which to pelt the
lieges coming hack; there, too, aspiring clerks arsine.
bled and donned blue veils preparatory to going quietly
down by rail; and there, also, were young fellows who
had se much antieleeted matters as even thus weer, ie
the inorning to require • helping hand to steady them
on the roofs of 'bushes. Foreigners ascribe our greet
metropolitan exodus on the Derby-day to the national
love of racing, which we all kuow is moonshine. If
all the Downs were polled three-fourths would rather
have missed seeing the race than seeing the road.
What in the name of goodness, would the race be
without the road to it, and the pie-nice and little
parties, and the nog little hampers? The Derby-day is,
in fact, London'sGa rnival and great day out. It is looked
forward to as such, and the race, per se, is • mere item
of amusement, to which the dust, hurry, confusion,
noise whirl, laughter, champaigne, rained pies, salads,
and jowls are necessary adjuncts. It is rather the
(sashimi to say that the glories of the road are falling off,
though, to our mind, as far as the style and number of
equipages go, they seem to increase each year. Through
Clapham, where, as usual, all the upper windows were
stuccoed over with babes and nurslings, and the draw-
ingrooms aud gardens filled with the bnghtost of belles,
who made be-Levi not to notioe the passers-by, the
stream of vehicles wax dense and apparently ink:mina.
ble. Nor was it a whit leas varied than numerous.
Everything that could go on wheels, and very many
also, as the event proved, that could not, seemed
pressed into the service. Postchaises that had done
duty any time these months past as pigeon roosta ia
the"worst inn's worst yard" came clattering along,
the horses warranted "three parts blood and the other
corn," indulging in an imperfect recollection of •
canter, a feeble reminiscence which the old postillion
footers to the utmost by rising in his saddle now and
then as if the animals really galloped. These, however,
though slow, are sure, and in the event of surviving the
journey down, are more to be relied upon than the
'gay" animal that is put to with his fore leg tied up,
and who is certain to come out in his true colours on
the firet favourable opportunity. This, unfortunately,
he is sure to find in the narrowest part of the road,
where the bewildered driver can only fall back upon the
advice, tendered in peremptory directions, "to pull a'
one side," or in sarcastic reminders that "the (mech.
man" must come out next time, as he is sure to be
wanted in the haylield,—observations which occasion a
state of mind quite unsuitable to administering to the
eccentricities of • jib hone. We have often wondered
where ell the bad horses coine from on a Derby day,
and how it is that em-h very unexceptionable tuna-out
coine to grief, or, in polite parlance, are "plunged in
despondency," while a costennonger with all his family
in a ricketty barrow, and a select party of immediate
relatives on the shaft-a, gets down safely and in good
time too. Such, however, is too often the fact, and
some especially neat gets-up were backed off the road
into • hedge, leaving their disconsolate occupante no
other alternative, if they wished to reach the Downs,
save that of getting into the shafts themselves. At the
Merton pike there was the usual obstruction, annoy-
ance, and delay. When will some one devises method
by which the intolerable nuisance may be mitigated or
at least its avoidance compounded for?
The Dowels were crowded to an extent that we
have weldoin seen. The hill opposite the stand Isnd far
pant the paddock, and up on the left to the "soccer,"
was one dense black luau of carriages and people—a
houselese population as numerous in its crowds and as
varied in it, elements as that of the metropolis itself.
It WWI a real Derby gathering, and, if possible, • Derby
tethering evaggryab.tl with .11 it. .4
high and low—blacktop and lords, card-sharper. and
countrymen, gentlemen and ladies, knaves, fools, show-
MOB, holyday folks, foreigners, tramper's, lame, halt,
and blind; all, in short, whom toil and money could
bring together near London, and what does that not
comprise? Her. is a blind num reading the Scripture,
while near him two other blind ince led by dogs are ;
playing so vehemently on whistles as unconsciously to '
drown his voice; beyond these is a juvenile band
whose performances one cannot overlook or pardon
even on account of their youth, and to these' after a
brief interval of Aunt Sally* and coooa-nuts, succeeds •
conjuror, apparently swallowing whole reams of
coloured paper. To these again come more "Aunt
gipeies, and weighing machines (how is it that
only the very fat people are &axioms to be weighed, and
appear dissatisfied if they get a certificate of less than
Id atone?), and then again conjurors, pugilists. Per-
forming dogs, and learned monkeys; and, in fact, the
amusements, noise, heat, dost, bustle, fun, and de-
lightful confusion of the Derby course, as unlike the
staid decorum of Chantilly as night from day. And
when it changes, may we give up Derby' altogether I
No one need be at a loss for amusements on the Downs.
Hypochondriacs can ascertain the state of their lump,
while muscular Christiana practise at testing strength
on the dial, and even the ecientific can for " the small
charge of one ha'penny" indulge themselves in a cruel
shock from a man who carries about a small voltaic
battery, and who, strange to say, has &tweet more cus-
tomers for torture than he can well accommodate at
the price. In regard to Aunt Sally, if we might
venture to suggest anything with referencia to this
fashionable and athletic sport, we should be decidedly
of opinion that it is rather overdone than otherwise,
inasmuch as there is no moving about the course with-
out danger of getting one's head broken. Yet some-
how there seemed yesterday n.t one too many, and
their votaries were of a class which told of such an
upward tendency of the simple sport that one may
almost look to find among the next at homes a small
line in the left-heed corner intimating " Aunt Sally
at 10."

Towards 2 o'clock the huge concourse begins to
settle down, and the business of the day begins, on the
part of the public with lunch, and on the part of that
small minority, the " racing public," with preparations
for what is never mentioned at Epsom but as "the
great event."
Gently, and with the utmost care, the process oi
saddling for the race was gone through; though,
quietly as it wee managed, there were souse horses
whom it appeared to alarm and distress, and whom
Mr. Rarey would have saddled more quietly, though
perhaps wilt owe time. Time, however, on a Derby
day is more than money ; it is name and fame as well
to both horse and owner, and when the bell is clanging
and the course all but cleared, there are but very few
minutes to spare. Only 18 horses started yesterday,
in number certainly a falling off oompared with other
years, when sometimes there were as many as 30
starters. They came out from the paddock in a little
knot out upon the course amid the great MIMI of spec-
tators, and, instinctively, all broke into a canter and
then a gallop. The course was not quite cleared.
There were the traditional dogs (these this time) who
ran an impromptu Derby of their own, bowled at and
worried into incipient rabies. There was the stout
gentleman, too, whom no one would let under the
ropes, sweltering up the greensward amid derisive
shouts to 'Go in and win!" "What were the odds
against him?" and ironical queries as to whether he is to
nde Mr. Bpurgeon'e bone. But the noise stops as
Dundee goes down like a hind moving over the turf
with a long silent stride like the shadow of a horse.
No one notices Kettledrum, but Rouge Dragon makes
a great spurt and becomes popular among the " know-
nothings." In a few minutes after the colours assemble
at the starting-post, and go suddenly up the hill, amid
a hoarse cry of "They're off l" and" Hats off !" But
the course bell gives no sign, and after a minute of
intense expectation they come back again. Another
start and the Derby has begun as the little mass disap-
pears behind the hill. Yet another minute for last
feverish bets, end the group emerges upon the horizon,
all well together, like a group of Bowers. The pace
seems tremendous, yet all keep well up to the corner,
when the leaders draw ahead ; the hum deepens into a roar
as the colours of Dundee and Diophantua seem well
in front—every one waves something as they rush
thundering up the course—the jockeys call on their
horses, who make desperate effo:ts. At the last an
unknown horse is leading, but the favourites rush in
with a pace that puts their backers quite at ease, and
the race is over in a minute, and No. 8 goes up at the
post, and the winner is—Kettledrum.

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