Royal Ascot 



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better way than to rent one of the numerous mansions in 

 the vicinity, and so great is the demand for houses for the 

 race week, that the majority of habitable properties are 

 secured months in advance. Ascot week is an elastic term, 

 and may include anything between the four days racing and 

 a week previous or later. After the attractions of the races 

 themselves, garden fetes and dinner parties claim the long 

 evenings, while the natural beauty and exhilarating air of 

 the Berkshire country add not a little to health and 

 enjoyment. 



In the beginning of June a stranger in London would 

 be amazed at the outward and visible signs of the Ascot 

 stir in Society. Should he visit Waterloo and Paddington 

 stations he will see innumerable piles of luggage, watched 

 over by footmen, valets, and servants, while stable hands 

 attend to horses and carriages, all consigned to Ascot or the 

 surrounding country : if he pass down Bond Street, the long 

 line of carriages that wait opposite Ashton's will apprise 

 him that there the tickets to the Grand Stand can be 

 obtained. 



Gay and stately Ascot ! Royal Ascot ! Imperial Ascot ! 

 The day of its great meeting at length arrives, and those 

 who have not already taken up their residence there must 

 needs make use of rail or road. 



For the nonce, the plebeian Waterloo Road attempts to 

 vie with Hyde Park, and keeps its retinue of carriages waiting 

 to " set down " its fair patrons, and Paddington transforms 

 itself into a promenade of beauty and fashion, for it is quite 

 as much in the order of things to go by rail as by road. 

 Whether we travel easier now than in years gone by, let 

 those say who remember the primitive rolling stock that was 



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