274 EACECOURSE AND COVERT SIDE. 



Casino in spurs, with a cutting whip in his 

 hand, and a circular patch of washleather let 

 into the knees of his trousers. It is well known 

 that an English sportmans always wears spurs at 

 his cercle, and Petitsinge will not be outdone in 

 fashion by any milor. 



So he swaggers about, to the intense admira- 

 tion of the majority of his countrywomen, for 

 Fetitsinge does not hide his hght under a 

 bushel, and Hkes to be prominent in every 

 assembly ; so that if it should please him to put 

 down a few francs at the table where the petits 

 chevaux are running their endless circles, he will 

 elbow his way to the front, pushing English- 

 women roughly aside with as much ease and 

 carelessness as his own countrywomen them- 

 selves display when they are too much in the 

 background, and strangers have a better view. 



At the Tir aux Pigeons Petitsinge is mar- 

 vellous to behold. A huge tie spreads over his 

 bosom, and he has changed the riding trousers 

 for others cut rather tight at the knees and wide 

 over the boots. He is in the sweepstakes, and 

 anxiously awaits his turn as the wretched birds 

 flutter a few feet above the trap, receive the 

 two barrels, either fly away or fall struggling 

 to the ground to be killed and retrieved by a 

 dog, who looks a great deal too good for his 



