The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-13 00:00:00

which we have endeavoured to give a slight Men ; said
though there were scarcely three consecutive inititati4 iA
which the piers at London Bridge were clear, yet by
the admirable foresight of the different companies, no
crowding of steam-boats or confusion whatever took
place, and the celerity with which the thousands of per.
sons were landed or emba,rlted was not the least ear.
prising feature of the day. The Citizen and Iron Boats,
instead of starting from the Shades, went from the Old
Swan Pier, and thus avoided any collision with the
Greenwich and Woolwich boats. In addition to the
steam traffic, almost every other description of craft
was out far the nonce, and even the poor old for.
saken wherry-men came in for a share of the publics
patronage, and their little boats dancing about in the
swell of the steamers formed no unpicturesque objects,
and served admirably to fill in the details of the animated
picture presented to the eye of thespeetator. How many
thousands availed themselves of the holiday to take a
trip on the river we do not know ; but this we do know,
that it is worth anybody's while to step down to London-
bridge for a few minuets, and take a look at the river on
a fine Whit-Monday.

GREENWICH FAIR.

Greenwich as usual was the principal resort of yester•
day's pleasure-seekers. Thousands of too-sanguine in-
dividuals, trusting in the fair promises held out by the
weather during the earlier part of the morning, thronged
to the steam-boat piers and the railway station, to effect
as speedy a transit as possible to the great centre of at-
traction. From the various piers on the river steam-boat
after steam-boat stared in almost uninterrupted succes-
sion, each laden to the water's edge with their living
height, and yet after each departure the numbers left be-
hind for the next seemed to have increased rather than
diminished. The London-bridge Terminus presented a
similar scene, only greatly exaggerated ; while the Kent-
road and the other avenues leading from the southern
distric`a to London were continually traversed through-
out the day by the noisy and not too respectable multi-
tudes who usually perform the journey to the fair on
foot. The visitors to the fair were, at least, twice as
numerous yesterday as on Fester Monday. This iv
probably, accounted for by the fact that the pre-
seht holiday taking place a few weeks later in the spring,
the chances of unfavourab e weather are iwoportionably
diminished, and, consequently, the major portion of those
who can only obtain a holiday fir one occasion prefer
deferring it to the latest period. Truly unfortunate were
those who bad thus fixed upon yesterday for their visit
to Greenwich-park. They did so, probably, indulging in
dreams of azure skies and smooth grassy slopes covered
by happy multitudes indulging in those games and sports
which upon fine fair-days render this scene so truly ani-
mated. The discrepancy between the real and the ideal
must indeed in this case have been truly disappointing.
As the day advanced, those whom the dull and threaten.
ing aspect of the clouds had deterred from v euturing
forth earlier, upon finding that it did not rain, most erro-
neously supposed that it did not intend to do so at all,
and consequently mingled themselves with one of the
busy tides of pleasure-seekers, setting from so many
points towards the fair. About 4 o'clock in the after-
noon Greenwich was in all its glory—crowds of people
in holiday attire filled the streets. The booths and stalls
lining the road were in greater numbers than heretofore,
and everything seemed to argue well in favour of a suc-
cessful day. The park was crowded by many thou-
sands of people engaged in the time-honoured pastimes
of " kiss in the ring," and running down the Obser-
vatory-hill, while an almost equal number were exer-
cising their equestrian accomplishments on the backs
of jaded donkeys at Blackheath. The weather, which
like a sulky child, had been in a very doubtful kind of
temper all the day, now, to the infinite chagrin and dis-
gust of everybody, appeared to have decided upon what
course to take.

The rain commenced at first with a few spots now and
then, not by any means sufficient to terminate or even
to diminish the ardent pursuit of enjoyment in which
every one was engaged. At length it began coming
down pretty smartly, and many anxious glances were
directed towards the clouds, followed by the observation
that " It would be nothing after all," and that " It was
only a shower," uttered in a tone of voice and with a
dismal expression of countenance anything bnt confirma-
tory, if not absolutely at variance with the comforting
assurances. There could be no doubt that it had regu-
larly set in for a wet night. There could be no getting
out of the fact, however disagreeable it was to acknow-
ledge it. The temporary shelter afforded by pocket-
handkerchiefs tied over bonnets could not prolong the
sports beyond a few minutes. The ground was already
too muddy to run upon, therefore there was no further
inducement to rnuain in the park, and a general move
i❑ the direction of the fair was the result. However,
before one tithe of the visitors had left the park gates,
the rain descended in such torrents that it became
evident to all that even the fair, under the circum-
stances, would no longer be serviceable as a refugiunt
peccatoruna, and a general rush to the railway
station was the result. Here a scene presented itself
which can only he imagined by those who witnessed it.
The many thousands of men, women, and children,
forming a dense mass of people, which filled up the road
in front of the station for several hundred yards, all
pushing and driving for the one narrow entrance as if
their lives depended on it ; and fortunate indeed were
those who passed through that doorway with no further
injury than the loss probably of a bonnet or a hat, or
perhaps a skirt. Those who flattered themselves that
they were past the worst of it when they were in the sta-