The Express.
London, England, 1863-05-21 00:00:00

THE DERBY.

The groat Epsom racing meeting of yesterday—
the one general English festival which a very hard-
working people have agreed to observe-.--was re-
markable for two things—a visit from' royalty, and
thu most ungenial weather. flours before the Prince
of Wales and his suite drove off from Marlborough-
house hours before the loaded mail-phaetons,
drags, and broughams darted from Belgrevia, and
the donkey-carts and one-horse chillies from White-
chapel, a fertilising but very sullen and disagreeable
rain came down, and rendered the journey as much
one of duty as of pleasure. Never since the Derby
has been established has snob a day been witnessed,
and yet the company present was never more
numerous or distinguished. If anything bad been
wanted to prove the undying popularity of this great
annual race, it might have been found yesterday in the
City aid the county of Surrey. The same disre-
gard of business, the same hurried despatch of '
letters, the same crowding into vehicles of every
shape, and the same besieging of railway stations,
were as visible, as on much more genial Derby days '
Fortified with extra clothing and extra food and
drink, the determined crowds plunged boldly into
the mist and rain with all thine signs of high animal
spirits and eccentric tastes which are now regarded
as a mammary part of the Derby.
The connexion between races and a general
patronage of horseflesh is so apparent, that we 1
eau hardly feel surprised at finding the road"
crowded on these occasions. Not all the drab
mod in the county of Surrey, nor the drip-
pings of thousands of umbrellas, nor the leakiness
of so-called waterproof coats and rugs, nor 1
the temper and weaknesses of horses, could keep
the usual stream of vehicles from pouring along the
southern roads from an early hour yesterday morn-
ing. The annual procession provided for the
amusement of the inhabitants of Kennington,
Clapham, Tooting, Mitcham, and other places, was
not deprived of one ribbon of its attractions ; and
the windows along the line of route were crowded ,
as usual with women and children. The showers ,
of grey peas were not wanting, nor the penny
trumpets, nor the penny dolls, nor the masks and ,
fancy dresses. Combinations of adornment, re-
atMaMg the spectator of the Ist of May and the ,
bth of November, were visible on very jovial ,
riders inside and outside many vans and omni-
buses. The freedom of speech, the pungent criti-
cism, and the familiarity with passers-by and
lookers-on, ware even more striking without the sun-
shine than with it. Those stimulants which cheer
and do inebriate were resorted to very freely
at a very early hour, under the excuse of
mix, and the result was a joviality which
must have astonished those foreigners pre-
sent who had been taught to believe in the
sullenness of the English character. The reckless
driving always indulged in on this °session was
none the less reckless because of the mud in the
road, and the pleasure of bespetteriug the foot pas-
sengers and the houses in the narrow village streets
was almost equal to that once derived from the
throwing of rotten eggs. The shouting ostlers who
offered scanty refreshment to the steaming hones
at every hostelry on the road were moving lumps
of mud, and so were the running hawkers of masks,
dolls, sod "correct cards" who trotted at the aide
of the vehicles. One cases of labour was isompletely
beaten into retirement by the weather--the street
boys who turn "Catherine-wheel" somersaults at
the side of the coaches for stray halfpence. The
villages and taverns put out all those signs of wel-
come which are expected on a Derby-day, and it
was no fault of theirs if their flags looked like wet
zags on a clothes-line.
The old familiar aspect of the Downs was changed
for the worse, and that prospect which has so
often been dilated upon by descriptive writers was
not to be seen. A heavy curtain of mist hung
over the white steam came up from the
valleys, and the landscape in every direction
looked excessively spongy. The crowds of pede-
strians toiled over the clayey fields with pounds of
heavy soil clinging totheir boots, and with glistening
umbrellas over their heads, which made them ap-
pear like long rows of mushrooms. The men in the
betting market—that curious mixture of patricians
and riff-ruff-Looked like a huge bed of mush-
rooms, and the visitors who thronged the grand
stand, tier upon tier, the gallery of the Jockey
Club, and the booths along the course, were the
only people unooveredwith umbrellas.
That imitation of Bartholomew fair, which is

always pitched cm the sides at the slopes within the
ring formed by the course, was not a gainer by the
wet weather, and most of the refreshment tents
looked very soddened and muddy. Nothing but
high betting and high feeding could sustain the
spirits of the visitors in the Ewe of each s prospect
—the difficulties of indulging in the latter being
increased by the constant rain. Those astonishing
feats of dexterity performed by old raos-frequenters
—who balance themselves in the most dangerous
positions on the tops of coaches, with plates of
lobster-salad and foaming champagne-glasses in
their hands—were made more difficult by the
necessity of holding up umbrellas and wearing
heavy capes. Determination, ingenuity, and a
good-humoured desire to make the best of their
position, however, did wonders for the visitors, and
the lunching was carried on so incessantly that it
seemed to have neither beginning, meddle, nor
end. More than the usual number of hungry
tramps, beggars, gipsies, and race followers appeared
on the scene, to cling round the carriages of the
visitors, to suck the heel-taps of discarded cham-
pagne bottles, and to devour lobster salad from their
dirty hands. All these hangers-on were as soddeued
as the turf and tents, and the rents in their clothing
were patched with clots of mud.
The usual programme was faithfully carried
out in spite of the weather, and no: one of the
races was run before • thin and apathetic
audience. The grant event of the day—the race
for the Derby Stakes of 7,2001.—was delayed for
nearly an hour by a number of false starts, but
this only seemed to increase the excitement. The
preliminary canter of the 33 horses, mounted by
their jockeys, was watched with eagernme by the
dense crowds on each side of the course, and as the
favourites flew past, beating the turf with thoir
hoofs, the shouts of satisfaction rose up in one ini-
pressive roar. It was nearly 4 o'clock before the
tollin3 of the somewhat dismal bell near the Grand
Stand announced the final start of the horses, and
in less than three minutes the winning poet was
passed. The usual rush into the course from all
tides then commenced—the homes, jockeys, and
betters soon became one dense mass, and both win-
ners and losers knew their fate. The race was not
so exerting as it would have been if the favourites
bad been beaten, but, if report speaks truly, more
money was staked on it than on the contest in any
previous year.

(nom mix Bros:Tura

It has bran well observed that a wet Derby Day
it little short of • meicaial calamity, see in the remark,la fact
er eignifacanom en exaggeratioe. The day is one in which
all clams take an especial interest; it is the roe grand fete
et the seams. is which all slum commingle re the commas
pursuit of nomads& and eijomest. Lesion= look
forward be the Derby Day for months, as an omelet upon
which the cares and anxieties of business are for in the excite:oast attaching to the lame of the
great encounter epos the Deena. Bat the Derby is not
the exclusive *lemma of the day's enjoyment, for there is
the fun and hilarity of the road, the hinnies' badinage, the
pleasant parties on the hill, the batua•tolliag, the knock-
'm-down, and indeed all the features of a manatee fair,
in which every grade of Begliali warty participate with •
animism' feeler; of good humour and • determination to
make the utmost of the day's "area*" upon Item
Downs. The preparations in the metropolis had bees for
some weeks of • very exteseire darriptioll, the brilliant
weather is the early pert of the month Jawing glees
rise to anticipations ef • mars the. esually
attractive Derby day. lialortasetely the weather
underwent • very Implement change theism the
letter portion of lest week. sad as recorded in oar edemas
the evoke( day wee sold and stoney to • &pee that de-
wed to mess, fitems•eary's year, MO, wham the snow
had to be swept from the ceases beforethe rem could be
decided. The hurrimms whisk prevailed oas Treader sub.
sided in the coarse el the weeds& het sell leu imovay
daring nearly the whaled the sight, awl the plieg 4i the
poor, booth-keepers aid the wretched gimes le the eats