The Express.
London, England, 1864-12-13 00:00:00

AFTER THE CATTLE SHOW.

Yesterday morning, at the stroke of twelve, the
various roads and avenues leading to the Islington Cattle
Market, which had been restrained until that hour by a
parochial bye.law, sprang into active busy life. The final
act of the cattle show is the distribution of the various
animals exhibited, and • large proportion of those not
already sold find their way into the folds and pine of the
cattle market, after being kept throughout Saturday and
Sunday in the various "lain" or depots in the vicinity.
It would be difficult to draw a stronger contrast to the
cruelties and brutalities of the bad old Smithfield times
than wee presented at Islington from midnight until morn.
kg yesterday. The spacious, well-lit area, the broad road',
the convenient approaches, the roomy peas, and the long
files of cattle, symmetrically and even tastefully arranged,
all spoke of careful organisation and successful manage-
ment. But the scene was quite as striking from an artistic
point of view as it was satisfactory from a humane one.
The night was lovely, the bright full moon shining bril-
liantly, now from • perfectly clear sky, now through
one of the fairy-like gossamer clouds which chased
each other from time to time in rapid sac-
amnion across its surface. Below, the multiplicity
of gas lamps radiating from a common centre, and stretch-
ing in well-defined lines of light far away to left and right,
whichever way the spectator turned; and the prominent
clock-tower, looking with illuminated face calmly down
upon the strange uproar at its feet, gave • curiously foreign
aspect to the 44.3)111). A very slight effort of the imagination
brought it vast continental P;are before the looker-on. The
crier of the drovers were the warning shouts of gondoliers ;
the stir and bustle were caused by the preparations for the
Fle of to-morrow ; the wide, damp, and shiny roads stood
for canals ; and though neither Doom° nor lauge's palace,
Piazza nor lion-crowned column could bediacerned, the lot ty
tower made an admirable campa and it was not difficult to
fancy the rest. But the impression of necessity faded away
as soon as formed. However unlike an English market-
place this enclosure might be at first glance, there was no
mistaking either the sights or sounds whereby it was
speedily filled. It was not merely the prevalence of what
Byron termed the Engliahman's shibboleth, nor the other
strange oaths with which it seems a point of
honour for each drover to outvie his neighbour;
nor the constant lowing of cattle, nor the bleating
of sheep. nor the continuous barking of shepherd.' dogs, nor
the half-frightened, half-savage butting of the poor beasts
prior to their being tethered, which spoke of home. That
which was conspicuous for its absence was the strongest tea-
timooy of all. there there would have been dozens of
foreign soldiers wildly gesticulating and fiercely insisting
upon order there was not a single representative of either
the military or civil force. Two or three policemen at lung
intervals singly patrolling the pavement outside were visible,
but within the enclosure order was kept and individual rights
preserved inviolate by the drovers themselves. Rude in
bearing, aggressive in meaner, turbulent in talk, and by no
means delicate or forbearing in action, these men acted
fairly enough to each other, and there were no rows, and
but little quarrellingthroughout the night4That the repartees
were of the coarsest, the threats and imprecations occasionally
both bloodthirsty and disgusting, may be readily believed,
but these seemed to be indulged in as conventionally, and
with as hale reference to individual sentiment or taste, as is
many a more fashionable weakness by ladies and gentlemen
higher in the social scale. The visitor who expected crowd-
ing, tumult, and confusion would be surprised to find in the
portion of the market already filled on his arrival the order
of • factory and the discipline of a barrack. Yesterday be
it remembered was the grand day of the year. You hear it
spoken of as " the Grand," and men were singing

The Grand, it names but once a year,
with a nual vociferousness worthy of the most unpleasant
of Christie/a waits. Arriving at the entrance nearest the
Caledonian-road, shortly after '2 a.m., the first thing we
new was • little line of steadfast waiters outside the public.
house at the corner. They were all well aware that the
operation of the new law would prevent the door being
opened until the clock struck four, and that they were
doomed to waiting and to ungratified thirst for nearly two
hours longer. Lilt when the inside of • tavern is impel,.
sib* the outside appear., to a certain class of mind, the
next best thing, and to lean with back against its wall, to
keep eyes steadily fixed on the illuminated clock, and to
"wish it were four, I do," was evidently not without a
soothing influence, in the absence of more tangible refresh-
ment. The other aide of the irou railing opposite, each
pilaster of which is crowned by a Millock's head in iron, is
Already lined with cattle, no tightly packed, that when one
lies down, the hind feet of its next neighbour perforce stands
upon its back. Up the road which skirts the market to the
left, calves and oxen are constantly panshig, now let out in
small detachments from the lair, and driven by
prods from drover, and barks and bays of dog,
through the open gate, now coming by aid Of
life accompaniments, from • more distant resting
place. Up this mad sad through the open gets in its
centre, and by dint of carefal piloting and discreet smilers.
ties of speed, whenever a horned head seems more than
Usually eccentric in its movements, the visitor stands
in the main avenue running direct to the campanile. Over
the left band radiug of this avenue may be seen • row of
horns, the owners of which sluggishly lash their tails, and
look with placid indifference upon the struggles and gym.
floss of their brethren at the gate. To this complexion you
must come, dear friends, they seem to say ; why then irritate
yourselves so vainly, and give such unnecessary trouble
Long hoes of cattle extend down to the right, stretching
from the side to the point of observation you have just left,
but with the exception of the one row of philosophic ob-
servers, whose red backs and ornate heads loot like a brick
wall with a formidable c! onus de f rise at its top, the por.
ton of the market to the left is at this hour empty. The
eomponeot parts of each avenue of buttocks, and each
lengthy vista of heads and tails to the right, are
so much :dike in size, colour, and proportions, that
it is es ident that as much pains are taken to
match the bouts assorted together as if similarity of hue
were an essential requisite in a herd offered for sale, And
that this apparently fanciful notion is substantially true
is proved on iuquiry, for it is one of the first duties of the I
master drover or his representative to so sort the beasts
trusted to his care as to avoid gluing cootrsst end striking ;
discrepsocy. Thw, a long row of black and white is fol- '
lowed by a row of blacks, beyond which • row of duns and
ose of white and red may be seen. The drovers, long stick
and lauthorn in band, shout, and prod, and swear, and gosti. ,
cu late as the fresh arrivals come in, and practical objections
to the process of tethering are made. Past more then one
sleeping group of couutrymen, who make pillows of each'
other on the ground, past many • row of cattle which seems
but a repetition of its predeceisor, up and down many of the .
avenues, and ru all cases agreeably surprised at the absence !
of obstruction, and cos are at the foot of the clock tower, '
and getting away from the oxen and over to the sheep folds.
Bo many of this° are tightly packed that it would be easy, I
by climbing over the divisions between pen and pee, to
walk fur the next half-hour on • series of fleecy backs. •
Amongst them are mon, who, waving a darning torch aloft,
feel and pinch, and gauge and estimate, mid often making
entries hi dogs-clued greasy memorandum books, first touch
the next sheep with their staff or weed, and then repeat the
process with forenoon awl thumb. This again was
a singular phase in the night's experience. The torches
need were of the simplest, being apparently • rough bit of
wood lipped in resin and lit, but the lurid glare they cut
over the tough facts, weird figures., and wild dresses of
their 'uolders made them stand clearly out eveu in the
mundight wi•u a distinctiveness and force of contrast
worthy of Itecularatelt or &avatar Rose. A roughly covered
cart, an ordinary stage waggon roofed in with undressed
twigs, and looting like an Indian wigwam, is full of sheep,
which are being discharged into a pen war. Droves of pat-
tering feet and of mild and helpless-looking faces are teem-
ing into this division of the market with a monotouous
regularity and in uercr-ceuiug succession, like waves beat-
ing idly upon the strand. With wonderful precoiormod mar-
vellous celerity these were all put away, and were probed
nod felt in their turn by the torch-bearers and their
satellite,. Through the sheep department, and working
back to the lair, we pass the pig pens, all of which are
empty, the waggons conveying the swine not being due until
aster in the wonting. Round the open space where the
Lent rowed wooden barriers are absent, and where tether.
ing must be difficult, if not impossible, and pasting the rows
of cattle once more, we stead at the corner tavern a few
minutes before four. The group of thirsty souls has been
augmented during our absence ; and when the welcome
ouods of bolt and bar withdrawn are heard
there u ,ILUI4 • convivial rash arid an almost
sumnimous demand for " art a pint and a '
pennortb." Some few take hot spirits and water, and '
fewer still rum aid milk, but the main drink of the weary
drover would seem to be the compound just named, which
consists of a peuuyworth of gin and half a pint of porter
mixed up together. Toe long rows of harriers, which spread
like a vast net work over a large portion of the enclosure,