A PRELIMINARY CAXTER. 15 



Gosforth(Ne\vcastle-on-Tyne)immensemassesof people 

 assemble to witness ceitain races, more especially the 

 Liverpool Grand National Steeplechase and the North- 

 umberland Plate, which has been called the ' Pitmen's 

 Derby.' Bat it is not necessary that every seat of racing 

 sport should be described or referred to in this work ; 

 two or three places will be quite sufficient to represent 

 the whole: E{isom, as bemg an outlet for the immense 

 population of the great Metropolis; Ascot, for the excel- 

 lence of its sport, and the rich nature of its prizes; Good- 

 wood, as a picture of society enjoying a grand picnic ; 

 and Manchester, as the largest gate-mone}' meeting in 

 connection with the sport of horse-racing in Great 

 Britam. 



Tne racing at Epsom has, fortunately for those 

 having the greatest pecimiary interest in the sport, 

 become endowed with the great centrepiece of ' the 

 Derby ' to attract all the world to the Dov/ns. Lord 

 Palmerston spoke of the races at Epsom as our 

 'Isthmian games,' although a ciown of parsley would 

 be esteemed a very poor reward by the man who won 

 the big race — which has been felicitously named the 

 ' Blue Piibbon of the Turf,' and is a prize which is 

 longed for by every man who plays a part on the turf. 



After the year 1820 the Derby became of note ; pre- 

 vious to that year its popularity had been of slow 

 growth, but during the fifty years between 1820 and 

 1870 its importance had increased so largely as to 

 perceptibly diminish the vast population of London on 

 the day on which the race was run. It gives occasion 

 for what may be termed a 'gigantic' holiday for the 

 lower and middle classes of the Modern Babylon and 



