BRITISH TURF. 209 



No crowd, nobooths impede the view ; none of those 

 discordant sounds which make a perfect Babel of 

 other race-courses distract the attention. The 

 number of spectators seldom exceeds five hundred, 

 and they are mostly of the highest classes, the 

 majority on horseback, with perhaps a few close 

 carriages and barouches, for invalids and ladies. 

 Before each race a busy group surrounds the betting 

 post, when an animating scene takes place, and 

 bets are offered, taken, and booked, with a regu- 

 larity and industry that would do credit to the 

 members of the Stock Exchange. In a moment 

 the crowd disperses ; some gallop to the place of 

 starting to see the horses off and follow them in ; 

 others, again, place themselves opposite that par- 

 ticular part of the course where they think the 

 struggle will take place, and the race, in point of 

 fact, be decided ; while others surround the judge's 

 chair,* eager to know at once the issue of tlie event 

 by which they will be either losers or gainers. The 

 whole scene is one of great interest, and which 

 can nowhere else be witnessed. 



The following Latin verses, descriptive of a 

 race at Newmarket, are from the Britannia, in the 

 folio of Lord Hampden, printed and published in 

 Italy. 



* The judge's chair is on wheels, and is moved about, according to 

 the different parts of the Beacon Course which may have been fixed 

 on for the event to come off over. 



VOL. 1. P 



