CHAPTER XV. 



the eaces a letter. 



Dear , 



I have been to the races : not to bet, nor to see the 

 horses run : not even to see the fair ladies on the Grand Stand, 

 in all the newest fashions of Paris via l^ew York: but to wander 

 en mufti among the crowd outside, and behold the humours of 

 men. And I must say that their humours were very good 

 humours ; far better, it seemed to me, than those of an English 

 race-gTTOund. Xot that I have set foot on one for thirty years : 

 but at railway stations, and elsewhere, one cannot help seeing 

 what manner of folk, beside mere holiday folk, rich or poor, 

 affect English races ; or help pronouncing them, if physio- 

 gnomy be any test of character, the most degTaded beings, even 

 some of those smar1>dressed men who carry bags with their 

 names on ^them, which our pseudo-civilization has yet done 

 itself the dishonour of producing. Xow, of that class I saw- 

 absolutely none. I do not suppose that the brown fellows 



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