NEWMARKET 193 



a great racing district would be that you might see 

 a string of sheeted racers passing through the 

 street on their way from their training-grounds to 

 their stables ; or if you listened to the old women's 

 or lads' conversation you would hear nothing but 

 about some of the numerous trainers' " lots." The 

 number of empty houses, too, and the bills of 

 auction sales you see posted up everywhere with 

 " In re " So-and-so in the corner, or " By order of 

 the Sheriff," add to the desolateness of the scene. 

 But during the race- weeks all this is altered, and 

 the scene is as exciting and enlivening as it was 

 dull before ; the pavements crowded with men, 

 two huge masses on each side, at the Eooms and 

 White Hart, reminding one strongly of the way 

 bees hang out of their hives previous to swarming. 

 The inhabitants, too, erect stalls down both sides of 

 the street, where all sorts of things are exposed for 

 sale — fruit and vegetables of every kind, and 

 amongst these hampers of a curious vegetable 

 believed by the aborigines to be cucumbers, but 

 to an uninstructed eye looking like a cross between 

 a pumpkin and a hedgehog, so yellow and prickly 

 are they ; large baskets of mushrooms, those escu- 

 lents which once cost the late Lord George Ben- 

 tinck so dearly, and which he ever after cursed so 

 heartily. There are stalls also where clothes and 

 II N 



