The Express.
London, England, 1864-08-26 00:00:00

WELD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

From the pavement running in front of the
National Gallery may be seen almost every evening
• sufficiently remarkable spectacle. Hanging over
the granite balustrade dividing the flagged terrace
from the lower floor of Trafalgar-square are mes,
women, and children. Their attitude is both uni-
form and singular. Neither heads nor shoulders
are visible, but in their place a lengthy vista of
dorsal extremities ; much as if a public school
operating-master, a British drummer-boy, a boat-
swain's mate, or a modern prison turnkey, had to
prove his efficiency in the noble art of knouting
before promotion, and a number of victims had
been experimentally horsed. When Mr. Squeers
thrashed Smike in the hackney-coach, he declared
there "was inconvenience in it, but the novelty
gave it a sort of relish." His London prototype
may combine the utmost convenience with the most
complete novelty by journeying to Trafalgar-
square, and boldly slashing at the people ranged
after the fashion of Mr. Leech's " Common Objects
on the Sea-shore." If of a philosophic tempera-
ment he may speculate upon the garments of his
victims, and point a moral before he adorns them
with stripes. There are the trowsens of shabby
gentility, sleek respectability, struggling poverty,
hardy labour, and abject pauperism, intermingled
with petticoats of Prints Menlo. MA Jaw instances
et garish-coloured silk, and of those other materials
nondescript in character and neutral in tint, wherein
the generic female pauper is clothed. The feet even
have a story of their own. Hobnailed bluchers,
cracked leather, heel down-trodden, sole-dilapi-
' dated Wellingtons, Oxfords, and Alberta are ranged
side by side, sole upwards, on the pavement, like
the wares on a cobbler's stall, or the goods in the
window of a very second-hand boot and shoe shop.
Naked feet and legs are not uncommon, and are
also turned towards the road, as their owners'
heads hang over the parapet in friendly participa-
tion in, and genial approval of, the sports below.
These are provided by a very fair amateur circus
company, who, it is true confine their efforts to
what, from the time of Dncrow downwards, have
been styled scenes of the circle, but who endeavour
to condone the absence of horses by the pleasant
abandon of their costume, the eccentricity of their
movements, the strength of their language, and
the weird and recondite humour of their
" chaff." The circle is not kept, but formed
by • hundred or so adherents, who submit
patiently to occasional punchings, and swallow
gratefully considerable obloquy, as the conditions
of their acting as • guard of honour. Tke tumblers
may or may nut receive the halfpence from above,
but their non-acting neighbours are certain of kicks
from below. Entirely lawless, but very merry, are
the ragged acrobats whose gyrations have brought
together this string of spectators. A coat or a heap
of tattered garments is placed upon the pavement
three or four feet from the wall. Bagged youth
No. 1 turns a summersault thereupon, resting on
both bands at the critical moment of turning •
No. 2 only uses one hand in the same trick ; and
No. 3 either jumps clear from the ground, or his
touch is so momentary as to be imperceptible.
Sensation in the little throng below, murmured ad-
miration from the motley line of spectators above.
Rosy-eheeked young female whose lilac-print rather
short dress, huge street door key in hand, red
bound memorandumbook with name and address
of butcher or baker in gold letters on its back, bare
arms to match binding of book, all denote domestic
service as her vocation and household errand her
present mission, pulls out a purse—a real leather-
packed, steel-clasped purse, with orthodox divisions
for gold, silver, and notes--and throws therefrom
a warm fat penny, which is immediately caught by
ragged boy No. 6 or 7, who has done nothing but
astutely watch the faces above, and mentally cal-
culate, like the Jamaica parson's black servant,
which amongst them looked more give-ee than
take-es," Asseverations, pugilism, scuffling,
and dissatisfaction, until jovial mechanic, who
has evidently been making merry, copies
domestic servant, and casts more penes upon
the seething little mob. Not like oil on troubled
water by any means. Uplifted hands, vigorous
pushings, a few yelps, cries of " Chuck 'em down,
sir—chuck 'em down, my lady," as three or four
more pence are thrown, when a whisper goes from
mouth to mouth, and bundle is caught up, and boys
disperse as the one policeman who has charge of the
square is seen returning from the far side of that
column which provoked from the old salt the com-
ment—" By Jove, they've mast-headed the Ad mi-
ral." Performers diversify their professional tumb-
ling by amateur agility over and about the east
and west stone staircases • that nearest St.
Martin's Church being especially favoured, as
affording more avenues for retreat in case of re-
appearance of obnoxious myrmidon. The old
school game of "Tommy Touch-wood" is extensively
patronised, defined portions of steps and parapet
being substituted for wood. Tidy, formal old gen-
tleman aiming leisurely tip aforesaid steps receives
tattered, barefooted, shock-haired young gentleman's
bead in his stomach, and futilely bitting out with
Malacca cane, is exhorted to keep his temper amid
jeers and laughter from young gentleman's com-
rades. A party of two young and throe old
ladies, obviously from the country, who are en-
joying the exciting treat derivable from a con-
templation of the outside of the National Gallery,
are leas diverted than frightened by a boy dropping
over parapet andsimulating intense paiu and severe
internal injuries until he is commiserated ; when
opening his eyes, kicking up his naked feet, and
breaking into a grin, be jumpsup with a shout, and '
repeats his vaulting experiment before his cajoled
sympathisers have recovered from their surprise, or
progressed three yards. Other boys indulge in
wild fandangos up and down steps, glide over
parapet, squat behind corners, make 'basks" of the
stone-pillars, and cause general bewilderment to''
uninitiated spectators. On the strata of pedestal
running round the base of Nelson's column are ,
three sets of boys playing three distinct games of
follow-my-leader ; on each iron network supplying
fountains figure boys looking like shipwrecked
mariners on a section of stranded hen-coop. Round
each basin's edge are boys—dabbling, washing,
chip-swimming, stone-throwing boys ; leaning
against both walla are boys—hopping, jumping,
leapfrog-playing on nearly every flag, are boys—
look to the right and you see them making mock
signals of distress to the distant policeman ;
to the left alternately playing or fighting ; on
the terrace practising the genial hop-scotch
'towards Whitehall, chevying an unhappy dog
who for his sins has a rude paper bag over his
head and eyes, and a highly ornate appendage
culminating in a bit of old metal clattering at his
tail. Dog having been chased from pillar to post,
until his hunters are breathless, is divested of cum-
brous paraphernalia, and promptly plunged into
basin nearest the Union Club. Not liking the
society of the old oyster shells, broken dell, pebbles,
and dirt he finds at the bottom, be makes strong
physical protests against ducking, until he breaks
loose, to be caught by opposition boys and subjected
to same process in company of another dog at
eastern basin. Meanwhile other sports go merrily
On, and the temporary tumbling ground is occupied
by recumbent figures, who are at once ragged and
vivacious, dirty and disreputable, and blasphemous
and coarsely funny, noisy and voluble. To say that
there are many hours when no decent woman can
traverse this Square, or ascend its steps, or pro-
menade its terrace without having her ears offended
and her delicacy outraged, is to understate the fact ;
to say that its purlieus are unfit for such feeble and
aged people as don't like being frightened, and can't
bear being jumped upon or bumped against,
is to state moderately what any observer':
may verify for himself. Mounting the steps
again, we see the granite sides of the walls
are of a bright and burnished darkness ; and, gain-

mg their iininnrit, that the vistaed parapet is like
polished marble. This is all due to elbow-grease
of the gymnasts. So is the shininess of the bronze
lamp at the corner, one of the large rivets of which
was miriag a few days back, and doubtless graces
the warehouse of an accommodating d eel in I
marine stems. The scene on the upper deck, so to
&pair, has once more changed. The dispersion of
the acrobats has done away with the long row of
uniformly banded backs. Groups of raged dirty
youths and men, old women, and young
girls wimpy this space. These chat and
gambol with surpassing freedom and rough
playfulness. Mark, amid the many evil
countenaacte, you bright-eyed, fair-haired,
sensuous-faced, dimple-cheeked, plump-figured
young devil-may-care of sixteen, as she bandies
and reciprocates horse-play with the four
repartee
grouped round her. Find the one policeman
relegated to this square, and ask him who and what
she is, and you will learn that you have
been admiring the Nancy of more than
one juvenile Bill Sykes. The closely cropped
hair, broad thick-set mouths, quick ner- I
voila restless eyes of her companions, I
all mark their profession as surely as the clergy-
man's gown or the barrister's wig—so do the evil
expression; the twitching laughing mouths, the
writhing shambling figures by whom you are sur-
rounded as you lean against the wall. These
are thieves, leavened with pauws, perhaps, but
mainly thieves. Wait until"—M lane coat and
helmet appear upon the scene, and mark how they,
have melted away, through the passage running
under the Royal Academy building, round corners
and up streets, until one of their scouts reports
that the man to whose representative character they
bear the same antipathy as the rat does to the ferret,
is engaged with combatants, or pursuing gamesters
on the fiat below. After dusk the females of the
party lave themselves in the basin, go through
some form of toilet, and follow the lowest branch of
a calling which need not be further indicated ;
' while the worthless scamps who are tbeir hangers-
'on follow at a distanoe, or remain within call,
and if chance offers, ail their partners by
open bullying or sudden raid. The men never show
repose either in attitude or expression, and this
more than any other trait confirms the character
given them by the policeman. But the steps are
once more alive. Over the parapet in rapid succes-
sion, much as the Bounding Brothers of Mesopota-
mia used to vault over the patient circus steed at
Aatley's, drop the boys. Not all ragged, but having
very young tradesmen errand boys and school
lads amongst them, all of whom are being unoon-
scionaly moulded and influenced by the coarse bad
natures at their side. Linendraper-looking boy, in
vaulting over, drops a small parcel ; it is immediately
seized by half a dozen of his playmates, who go
through pantomine expressive of tearing it to bits,
and finally plunge it in the basin nearest
them, and return it with many mock apologies to its I
weeping custodian ; boy hurts his ankle in spring- I
ing down steps, and is promptly danced round by
playmates of both sexes, whose innate savagery
betrays itself iu their exultation at another's pain.
Wicked old gentleman, with apparently one leg (his
best) in the grave, fters away from these rough
sports, and as soon as it is dark enough parleys
with ragged bouris, and is cajoled or insulted ac-
cording to the amount of weakness he betrays. As
night comes on, as the stars shine out one by one,
until the mast-headed hero and the Northumber-
land-house lion stand out sharp and clear from the
gold-spangled dark blue background of sky—when
the suburban omnibuses, no longer crowded with
homeward-bound clerks and citizens, pass slowly by
with empty inside seats and deserted knife-boards
—when the lighted-up roof windows of
the Royal Academy speak of art being patiently
studied, and of the painters of the future
laboriously mastering the rudiments of their call-
ing—when thelUnion Club sheds its rosy light half-
way across the road, and its billiard-room becomes
palpably occupied—when the pavement opposite
gives place to a relay of stationary beggars, accord-
ion players, and venders of cigar lights—when
gaudily dressed painted figures are trooping by St.
Martin's Church, on their way from the bridges of
Hungerford or Waterloo to Regent-street or the
Haymarket—when the costermongers' fruit carts
are either taken home or lit up with paper lan-
thorns and greasy dips—when Morley's Hotel seems
at its busiest, and when cabs and five are
constantly receiving cargoes of opera-cloaked,
black-coated, white-cravated people from its doors—
when the squirt-fountains cease playing, and their
machinery shows gaunt and ugly on the star-
reflecting water—when the illuminated clock of the
Victoria Tower yonder points to nine p.m. as the
hour—then the space before you slightly alters its
character. The parapet and stone steps of the north-
east corner are comparatively free from the romp-
ing horse-play in full force when your watch com-
menced. The steps are differently occupied. Those
dark shapeless bundles are men and women, ea
else boys and girls. So are the component parts of
that long black heap huddled under the parapet
stretching along the entire side of the square near-
est the National Gallery, over which you gazed at
the tumbling a couple of hours ago. Go down
the steps, and stand under the northern wall, and
you see duplicates of the wild forms above crouch-
ing at your feet. The girls are combing each other's
hair, after it has been duly damped in the basins ;
the boys are lazily lounging by their side, and occa-
sionally holding ups little circular zinc-cased pocket
mirror at such an angle that the light of the adja-
cent gas lamp may fall upon it, and their female
companions may pot the finishing touches to their
squalid toilet. The policeman approaches, and
with a shuffle and some not muttered oaths
the entire crew above and below slink off
and disperse, just as they did in the
afternoon. There seems to be no openly rebellious
spirit amongst them, and they follow the direction of
the tightly buttoned blue uplifted arm, which is this
light is strangely like a giant cloth sausage,
and disappear until its owner has departed, when
they return and squat, swear, and wrangle, dress,
and, lounge as before. In night or day this pro-
ceeding is so uniform, that it may well be asked
why two additional policemen are not stationed in
the Square. With one permanently in charge of
terrace and steps the scenes witnessed there would
be impossible, while auotber on the pavement
below might easily keep it clear of its unsavoury,
indecent rompers. The gentlemen who for the last
six or eight years have encouraged wretched chil-
dren to turn wheels by the side of vehicles may now
see the effect of their thoughtless copper-flinging in
the brawny youths whose tumbling we have de-
scribed. To these amateurs of contortion and body-
toning the sports now rampant in Trafalgar-square
may cot be without their interest, but to the com-
munity at large they stand out as a nuisance and a
scandal which ought to have been abolished months
and years ago.

Da. Lfwiwatrrows—On Tuesday last lona wee
visited by the adventurous African explorer, Dr. Living-
stone, who. while ashore, intimated his intention of visit-
ing Ulva's Isle," his predeoesem.' native place. The
doctor, who conversed freely with the people while ashore.
was on his way to visit his Gram the Duke of Argyll, at
Beomore Lodge, in Mull, one of his grace's shooting
quarters, when he is to remain for a abort time. The
sews of the doctor's visit soon spread, and banners were at
mice displayed in his honour. Firing commenced, and all
the people who assembled to have a "look at him" heartily
cheered him on his way to the steamer.
MELANCHOLY ACCILI-NT AT SOl7THEND.—Yester-
day morning, as Mies Sarah Erringtmi, one of the daughters
of Mr. Berington. of Dumnow, in Essex, about 17 years of
age, with two of her sisters, was driving • spirited posy
is a chaise, on the raid from Leigh to floutheed, the pony
Warted off at full speed. After running away to moms Ca-
tena the young lady who was driving loci all ceentnaed of
the mina, and unfortunately one of the sisters was so
slammed that she jumped out end fell with great violates.
She was takes up by • gentleman who was passing sad me-
owed to a tarpon's at Prittlewell, awl theme to tioatherd;
bat, although medical aid was obtained, she died three
hours after the OCCOMMOIk One el the other War was
throws eat of the =deg% bat dm is lioisig well.

MUSIC.