. DERBYANA. 219 



learned in due time when residing in Edinburgli, but 

 it would seem passing sirange if we had nowadays to 

 wait so long for news of our Derby winners ; sixty 

 3'ears since there was no alternative. Those who were 

 desirous of knowing 'what had won' required to wait 

 for thirty-six or forty hours till the mail brought the 

 news, and on every occasion of a great race the guard 

 might be heard shouting to some little group of people 

 as the coach rattled along, ' Smolensko,' ' Plenipoten- 

 tiary^/ or some other name, and at stations where a 

 halt was made to change horses some interested per- 

 sons would be waiting to hear the news of a Derby, 

 St. Leger, or other victory. These were not the days 

 of express trains, daily newspapers, or electric tele- 

 graphs. In various remote parts of the country the 

 name of the horse that won the Derby was sometimes 

 not known till ten days or a fortnight after the race 

 had been run. On the great mail-roads it was different ; 

 the coachman and guards spread the news as they 

 bowled alonsf, and the name of the winner Avould in a 

 short time be known by those interested for an area 

 of ten miles on each side of the great coach-routes. 



After leaving Haddington, by which town the mail 

 came to Edinburgh, I discovered why a man on horse- 

 back had come there — a distance of seven- 



TbeLspsof . 1 • <• , i , 



Early tcon milcs — to oDtam Irom the guard tlio 



Intelligence. r « 1 i. i i ^ i'\ 



news 01 what had won. Un some occa- 

 sions there were as many as five messengers employed 

 to bring on the news of what horse had won the Derby. 

 I forget now how the stages were arranged, but the 

 horsemen, from their knowledge of the country and 



