-»i Institution and Early Growth 



of the incessant racing for three or four hours, the public 

 dinners, assemblies, at Egham and Windsor, with the 

 gaming tables of every description, afforded a variety of 

 dishes in the feast of dissipation sufficient to pall the 

 most rapacious appetite. 



During the meeting the course resembled a small 

 canvas town. In the fortnight preceding the races, about 



>'\^L 





af. IV 



FASHIONABLE COSTUMES OF THE TIMES 



200 booths had been erected, some of them luxuriously 

 furnished, and possessing, according to a writer of the 

 day, all the conveniences of comfortable habitations. These 

 tents stood in the middle of the heath, and the owners 

 had to pay 3 to 5 guineas for permission to erect 

 them. 



As Ascot was several miles from the nearest market 

 town, in many of these booths were to be had {at 



43 



