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

Soon after the race of the day was over the'whole
ma,s of visitors began moving from the ground, and
the most unpleasant part of the proceedings:—the
return home—commenced. The stream of vehicles
seemed hopelessly complicated and unmanag,'able,
and dire was the crashing of panels arid s ortn of
expletives in all directions. At the railway station,
when every one wanted to return home at once, the
crush was excessive, but good precautions had hen
taken in the morning, so that as far as we were able
to ascertain all passed off well. It would have been
still better if people could only ha.ve seen that
-through a narrow aperture it was impossible for
soma thousands to pass at once, or for everybody to
be the first in town. However, as these obvious
truths seemed quite • overlOoked by all, each
pushed and struggled, and, while-impeding others,
delayed themselves, ITntil the public learn that
it is impossible for two bodies to oucnpy the same
space in the same time they may implicitly depend
on making each other mutually uncomfortable on
all such trips as yesterdays. All the southern roads
between Clapham and the metropolis were crowded
by thous-tnds in the evening, and of its kind-there
has seldom- been such a sight witnessed as last
night's return from the Derby.

ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
Yesterday, to all 'those who merely looked upon
the anniversary as a holiday, was a glorious Derby
Day. A greyish Morning, moist after the showers
of the night, matured into a sunny noon, the other,-
wise torrid temperature of which was qualified by
a smart breeze that made a sort of dusty Paradise
of the picturesque road that leads from London to
the Downs. There were just clouds enough over-
head to make people look up. now and then and
talk 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 folks ; but
how different was the case with the betting men,
whose calculations had been influenced by the
threatening aspect and -hetwy,rains of the previous
week. The " horses which*' they -had Selected for
favourites,-las being fitted to make way through
heavy ground, were -now at a discount, while the
light, lithe, nervous animals fluted for summer days,
and 'able to fly over a dry elastic turf, rose at once
to a premium. The Derby of 1856 having left
sundry rheumatic recollections in, he bones of such
of the visitors of that year as chose the railway as
their means of transit, a considerable number at-
tempted to evade the preliminary pushing, pugilism,
and_semi-pulverisation of the ,London-bridge sta-
tion, by this year taking to the road in the
nunierous 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 ; bile, alas ! there
were innumerable minor ills which attended their
newly adopted route. The coaches, and 'bus-s, and
vans- looked, tempting enough as they clustered
round the Elephant and Castle, With rose'tes in
the horses' ears, and roses in the coachman's but
ton-hole, and each provided with a heaven-inspired
trumpeter -to wile incautious wayfarers into
the- insidious conveyance. They were each and
every one guarant-ed to wart on tfie 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 lodged 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 ruse 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 'starting,
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 wheel 4, who had nothing fordt 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 exceedingly nervous. - Then the
coachman, who having perhaps retired from the
profession six years before froth infirmities of tern-
per, had been exhumed for this particular cocoa-,
sion, became dreadfully excited, lashing and swear-
iug at the horses, and. in his cooler moments:
comforting his passengers with the information
that it was fifty to' one if ever " that infernal
team" saw Epsom Dawns that day. But the
horses were not his only trials of temper. The
vans stretched right across the road, and the little
costermongers' carts darted in and out under his
nose, and the rotatory young ragatnuflios, whO
carried on an active trade ,in " heels-over-head"
on the pavement, grinned and yelled, and poured
in an unceasing 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
an 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 to shoot ' an albatross, we could -hardly
hardly have expected a less prosperous voyage.
We of course carried the vans and costermongers
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 pretty 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 lielyder to mature. Our pace was alter-
nately a crawl, a short spasmodic gallop, a dead
lock, and a crash. Everybody swore at everybody
els., and rival coachmen forgot that there were
such things as paisengers in the world in their fran-
tic attempts 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 Eloloolllset 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 spggest 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 to 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 the policeman does not threaten you with his
truncheon for attempting to force your way in—.
provided that your arm be net 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 het. hint, are so fortunate as to triumph—and
provided finally that there should be no collision
en route, it will be bettor for the public, gene-
rally to stick to the railway than attempt to re-
vive, the mediaeval style of travelling so itirli.e
,a
in the traditionary lore of Epsom races. ,
features of the racecourse itself are twoike,'
,°_,u
each successive Derby day as are the ,
.811'713
a evet who are said to be only distinguisha" "y,
the sheherd. The onl difference is between
favourable
and
day—thet
r strong, matter
to
slowweth,
owrsitehs,ite heavy ground
of
-whom. the wet- weather,'
umbrellas, and its concourse of
eo.ffinbieet:tt.ilisnnag
complete unconcern ; the fine, with l's gay, open
barouches, fined with fair ladies, the various stands 11