THE DEKBY CENTENARY. 



Peeveeselt enough, when every one wants it to 

 be fine it is raining hard. That things could 

 not go on Hke this, and that if they did the 

 hundredth Derby would be rather a question of 

 swimming than of galloping, was the generally 

 expressed opinion as men came out of their 

 clubs on the eve of the great day, and looked 

 up and down the streets for hansom cabs. 

 Many very bitter and cutting remarks were, 

 indeed, made about the weather, and the morn- 

 ing, as if to revenge itself, opened in a sullen 

 and dispiriting manner, suggestive of umbrellas 

 and waterproofs, rather than of more light and 

 airy Derby attire. 



But, at half-past nine o'clock precisely, 

 anxious eyes cast up to the sky detect favour- 

 able signs ; the sun shows that he is still able to 

 do his duty, and some one brightens up suflSciently 

 to make a remark as to the connection between 

 " rents in the clouds " and " castles in the air," 

 a proj)os of the intended expedition coming off 



