The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-28 00:00:00

ANOTHER ACCOUNT.

'Yesterday, to all those wbo merely looked upon
the anniversary as a. holiday, was a glorious Derby
aiy. A greyish morning, moist atter the showers
of the night, matured into a sunny noon, the other-
wise torrid temperature of which was qualified by
a smart breeze that wade a sort of dusty Paradise
of the picturesque road that le ids from L-ndon io
the DoWns. There were just clouds: enough over-
head to make people look up now and then aud
tilk of weather, but their only atmospheric effect
was to give innumerable varieties of light and
shade to the rich foliage of the Surrey. scenery. A
holiday indeed it was for all the holiday f .Iks ; but
how differtnt was the case with the betting ram,
whose calculations had been influenced by the
threatening aspect and heavy rains of the previous
wcek... The horses wh ch they had selected for
favourites, as being ti:teti to make way through
heavy ground, wete now At a discount, while the
light, lithe, nervous animals fi ted for summer days,
aud able to fly over a dry elastic tutf, rose at once
to, a premium. The Derby of 1856 having left
sundry rheumatic recollections in the bones of such
of the visitors of that year as cho,e the railway as
their means of transit, a considerable nunilxr at-
tempted to evade theprelirninary pushing, pugilism,
and semi-pulverisation of the London-bridge sta-
tion, by this year taking to the road in the
numerous one-horse, two-horse, three-horse, and
four-horse "drags" which had been extemporised
for the occasion. It is true that by doing so they

escaped the first grand agony ; ! there
were innumerable minor ills which attcnded the i~
newly adopted route. The coaches, and 'bus and
vans looked tempting enough as they clustered
round the Elephant and Castle, with rosettes in
the horses' ears, and -roses in the co tchtnan's but
tou-holee and'each provAed with a heaven-inspired
trumpeter to wile incautious wayfarers into
the insidious conveyance. They were each and
every one guarantied to start on the instant,
and it seemed as if the united strength of seve-
ral ostlers, who stood at the horses heads, was
necessary to keep those fiery steeds from galloping
off on their own account. But the moment the
unsuspecting victim was safely 1-dged inside, or
perched on the dizzy acclivity of the roof, then he
found that all this was merely a bit of playful
pantomime, and his only consolation lay in seeing
the same raise played off on innumerable successors,
until at last the vehicle was so full that. even an
Epsom conductor could not squeeze in or on
another passenger. Then came the real s'arting,
with four horses who, trained in independent cabs,
had then for the first time attempted to travel in
each other's company. There were the two blind
ones at the wheels, who had nothing for it but a
placid resignation, and the frantic "jib" and
'roarer," who did the leading business,, and ren-
dered everyone who was not accustomed to their
playful gambols exceedin4ely nervous. Then the
coachman, who having perhaps retired from the
profession six years before from infirmities of tem-
per, had been exhumed for this particular occa-
sion, became dreadfully excited, lashing and swear-
ing at the horses, and in his cooler moments
comforting his passengers • with the inforuire ion
that, it was fifer to one if ever " that infernal
team" saw Eps-m Downs that day. But the
horses were not his only trials of temper. The
vans stretched right across the road, and the little
costerniongels' carts darted in and out under his
nose, and the rotatory young ragamuffins, who
carried on an active trade in "heels-over-head"
on the pavement, grinned and yelled, and poured
in an unceaeing fire of playful sarcasm, interspersed
with predictions that if we made haste we might
probably be in time to meet the people coming
back from the races. Under such circumstances
it was a slow journey to Kennington-gate, where
au army of " pikemen " unrelentingly levied black
mail, and made everyone wait while they did
their business in that comfortable leisurely man-
ner which they considered most suited to the heat
of the weather. Thence to Clapham the pace was
not much improved. Had we been all ancient
mariners; and had each individually had the mis-
fortune t. shoot an albatross, we could hardly
hardly have expected a less pr sperous voyage.
We of course carried the vans and co,termongers
along with us, but in addition, Vauxhall and
Westminster bridges had now poured in the
West-end contingent of sporting barouches, which
would get on in spite of everything—long
sporting "traps," filled with pre•ty gentlemen in
delicate poplin paletots, and each carefully veiled
lest the sun and wind of the road should destroy
complexions which it had taken twelve months
assidous lislydor to mature. Our pace was alter-
nately' a crawl, a short spasmodic g +bop, a dead
lock, and a crash. Everybody swore at everybody
else, and rival coachmen forgot that there were
such things as passengers in the world in their fran-
tic at.empts to head each other at all hazards. It
was as nearly as possible a quarter of a mile beyond
the Swan when the slight moisture which, had
hitherto kept the dust down entirely disappeared,
and a perfect simoom set in, blowing incessant dust
into the eyes, ears, and noses of the wayfarers.
Every notion of comfort or enjoyment of scenery,
all raptures about green fields, or forest glades, or
golden meadows at once disappeared, and the only
remedy that the coachman could suggest was to stop
at every public-house on the roadside, and call for
incalculable quantities of beer. Then there were
the horses to be sponged and the harness ilia be
mended—a trace broke at about every twenty yards
—and the errant passengers to be collected, until
at last we arrived at the Downs in about quadruple
the time we could have done the journey‘by rail
from London-bridge. Our deliberate verdict
therefore is, that on future, Derby days, provided
that the station be not completely blocked up, and
that tbe policeman does not threaten you with his
truncheon for attempting to force your way in—
provided that your arm be not broken in. the at-
tempt to get your ticket, and that you are not
hustled into the, deep siding while running along
the platform—provided you have not to box a fel-
low-passenger at the door of a carriage, or, having
to box him, are so fortunate as to triumph—and
provided finally that there should be no collision
en route, it will be better for the public gene-
rally to stick to the railway than attempt to re-
vive the mediaeval style of travelling so famed
in the traditiona'y lore of Epsom races. The
features of the racecourse iteelf :a-a as like on
each successive Derby day as are the two sheep
who ate slid to be may distingraiebab'e by
t: .e sbephe,d. The only diffe ence is between a wet
day and a fine day—the wet, Kithits heavy ground
favourable to stiong, slow horses, i.s iunum-rahle
umbrellas, and its concourse of betting men, to
whom the wet weather, like the fine, is a matter of
complete unconcern ; the fine, with i s gay, open
barouches, filled with fair ladies, the various standa
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