The Express.
London, England, 1868-07-13 00:00:00

WIMBLEDON, SUNDAY Neter.
The heavy rains of last night and to-day have
left but little trace upon Wimbledon-common. Hero
and there small pools of stagnant water may bo
seen, but the broad expanse is in the main dry.
Thanks to the gravelly soil and the good drainage,
the turf was firm and hard by this afternoon ;
and the strollers on it saw but little evidence of
the merciless pelting deluge of a few hours before.
It was very different in camp. Many of the occu-
pants of the tents suffered severely in the night.
Few among them had had the prudence to dig the
necessary trenches round their bell-shaped sum-
mer-houses, and the result was that the camp was
during the small hours of to-day a scene of
considerable discomfort and hard work. To be
roused from your find sleep by a torrent of
water in your face or over your limbs, and
to be morally certain that the said torrent will con-
tinue without intermission for an hour or two, is a
fact stern enough to rouse the most sluggish sleeper
into energy. Accordingly the volunteers occupy-
ing the ordinary tents were It work soon
after midnight with pick and spade, and a
trench for receiving and carrying off the water
now surrounds nearly every tent. There were
plenty of other evidences of the stormy weather
the camp had gone through. Coats, mattresses,
sheets, and blankets, were all hanging out to dry,
and many a volunteer showed by the soundnees of
his mid-d•ralumbers how arduous and exhausting
his night labours bad been. The fortunate people
who had boarded flooring to their tents—a not
inconsiderable number—were in better case. They
boasted of their complete immunity with a sub-
limely confident air, as if no castle in the land were
snore completely waterproof than the bit of canvas
they favoured ; and as the lesson now received
and acted on by the rest of the camp has probably
rendered it superior to any weather, it is perhaps
satisfactory that the " seasoning " showers were
thorough and unrelenting. They have had a bad
effect upon the roads, which, having lost the dust
of Saturday, are now ankle deep in the thick
black sludge Crimean mon associate with the name
of Balaclava. One of the two tents belongrng to
Earl Spencer, and pitched in front of the windmill
cottage occupied by his lordship, was blown down in
the night, and ita debris lay helpless and forlorn upon
the grass. It is satisfactory to be able to state
that this is not the structure in which Earl
Spencer dispenses hospitality. We heard of no
other casualty of importance, and the high spirits
and unfailing jocularity of the volunteers we saw
awake to-day showed that this wetting had had no
ill effect upon their spirits or their hopes.
An irruption of soldiery has taken possession
of the village of Wimbledon. Red-coated heroes
cram its public-house and parlour bars, walk any
time four abreast in its roadway and pavement, and
convert that ultra-genteel and rather priggish
suburb into one vast canteen. Those who only
think of the encampment as one of volunteers
would be astonished at the number of " regulars "
it seems to include, and it is the overflow of these
which has overrun the old-fashioned little street
of old Wimbledon, and made it seem the con-
centrated essence of some garrison town. The
row of white tents near the entrance stretch
in a long line towards the butts, and look
like an array of ghostly giants looming through
the darkness. The brilliant lights in Mr.
Jcnnison's large refreshment tent are the only
signs of the real camp to be seen from here ;
and the walk serves the common is rough
and tedious. Once over, however, and there
is nothing to prevent the stranger strolling
about the camp, and peering into tents at will.
Music is to be h on all sides. Pianos are to
be found in several tents, and three young ladies
and three gentlemen are seated side by side in a
tent meant for four, and warbling intensely loving
ditties to the accompaniment of a mild wind in-
strument played by one of their number. A little
knot of not altogether appreciative volunteers are
smoking and 100 • on ; the lighted tent end its
open entrance enabling the strangers outside to
launch criticisms and chaff under cover of the
darkness, without the objects of both seeing their
assailants. The presence of the young women and
the semi-public but unauthorised singing are
doubtless to be attributed to the camp not
being yet fairly regulated, but the entire
proceedings savoured of questionable taste.
The great body of the enclosure was quiet. The
mess-tents may have been full, but they made,
with but rare exceptions, little sign ; though the
costly vases of flowers, the rich and massive plate,
the brilliant lights, and general air of luxury
which were perceptible through their openings,
testified to the splendour many of our volunteer
corps enjoy. A tent lit up looks from the outside
like nothing much as a huge turnip lantern with
its candle • ht inside. But here again the very
shadowsreflect luxury. The outlines of large
swing looking-glassee and easy chairs are to be
traced, with figures reclining, lounging, smoking,
while, in some cases, the.procese of assuming an
elaborate toilette de unit was forced upon the
passer-by in gigantic black shadows upon illumi-
nated walls. The London Scottish were making
merry, much as the Saxons did on the eve of the
battle of Hastings. Their shooting began yester-
day, when they held, according to annual custom,
a private match with the volunteers of Stafford,
which they lost by eighteen points, and then
manfully entertained their victors at dinner in the
evening. The two corps had an eminently con-
vivial meeting. Lord Riche drew playful oom-
parisons between the habits and ways of life of
these heroes from the country and the social
exigencies of the London Scottish, who, as we
understood his lordship, are so much sought after
in society as to make their merits as volunteers
additionally remarkable. There were songs and
speeches, and than speeches and songs, until one
began to wonder whether these gallant combatants
were not discounting the future by compressingeo
much enjoyment into an occasion which was after
all preliminary to the joys of a regular meeting.
But after Lord Eleho came the deluge. At a
quarter past eleven the ram began to fall, first in
slow, sulky, heavy drops, and then furiously, and it
continued with the accompaniment of thunder and
lightning through the night. Becoming thoroughly
wet, and getting comfortably dry again, was the
principal occuppaation of to-day, and we have shown
how successfully both operations were performed.
The first working day of these meetings is never
the moat important, bat the shooting for prizes
commences at a quarter past 9 to-morrow morning,
and will be continued throughout the day. The
bronze medal compethions ; the Jennison prize,
given by the Manchester refreshment contractors,
of the aggregate value of 661., and open to any
kind of rifle, and to all comers ; the Bass prize of
501. divided into thirteen prizes, given by Mr. M.
T. Baas, M.P., and restricted to etoient volunteers
who have never won a prize at Wimbledon or at
any county Rifle Association meeting ; " extra
prizes," given by tradesmen from the
articles in which they deal, ranging from
what is termed, with puzzling vagueness, a piece of
furniture by Atkinson, Westminster-road, to " a
Snider Enfield ; a silver cup, a telescope, a watch,
and an opera glass, called respectively after the
people making or giving them, open to all comers,
at an entrance fee of 10s., and • distance of 200
yards; the first stage of the Alexandra prize of
1,000/., divided into 156 prizes, and to be shot for
at 200. 500, and 600 yards ; the first stage of the
shooting for the prizes given by his Royal High-
ness the Duke of Cambridge, the Secretary of
State for War, and the National Rifle Association,
each contributing 501., and to be competed for by
military breech-loading rifles only ; the Enfield
Association Cup, open to members of the National