284 THE HIVE OF THE BEE-HUNTER. 



daughters for them, turn up their seraphic uoses at the 

 rude contrivances that rejoiced at so recent a period in 

 the appellation. About the field were horsemen innu- 

 merable, and upon the adjacent hills were thronged the 

 less fortunate spectators, who could muster neither 

 wheeled vehicle, nor four-footed beast for the occasion. 

 The scene was one of animation, and to my young im- 

 agination, — of unsurpassable brillianc}'-. 



We had not been long upon the ground before we as- 

 certained that something was amiss. Every body wore an 

 uneasy and fidgetty aspect, the cause of which was soon 

 discovered. By the rules of the Jockey Club, it re- 

 quired three entries to make a race. There was no 

 walking over the course, in those days. Every purse 

 taken, had to be won gallantly of at least two competi- 

 tors. Only two horses had been entered, and the sport 

 seemed about to be broken up for want of a third. 

 There were other nags of " lineage pure " in attendance, 

 but their owners were afraid to start them against the 

 celebrated Blannerhassctt^ and the no less celebrated 

 Epaminonclas. 



In this strait the concourse of assembled people 

 grew ill-natured, and even the ladies pouted in sore 

 disappointment. The owners and trainers of the re- 

 nowned coursers, which were held apart for want of a 

 go-between, vaunted the performances of their respective 

 nags and looked daggers at the judges, whose conscien- 

 tious scruples would not permit the purse to be taken. 



