crew, "If a foreign army were in movement against England and a
panic arose, there would be little mercy for quiet citizens." On a hasty
computation, I should say that an ordinary Derby Day brings together an
army of wastrels and criminals strong enough to sack London if once the
initial impetus were given; and who can say what blind chance may supply
that impetus even in our day? There is not so much sheer foulness
nowadays as there used to be; the Yahoo element--male and female--is not
obtrusive; and it is even possible for a lady to remain in certain
quarters of the mighty Downs without being offended in any way. Our
grandfathers--and our fathers, for that matter--had a somewhat acrid
conception of humour, and the offscourings of the city ministered to
this peculiar humorous sense in a singular way. But a leaven of
propriety has now crept in, and the evil beings who were wont to pollute
the sweet air preserve some moderate measure of seemliness. I am willing
to welcome every sign of improving manners; and yet I must say that the
great British Festival is a sorry and even horrible spectacle. What is
the net result or purpose of the whole display? Cheery scribes babble
about "Isthmian games" and the glorious air of the Surrey hills, and
they try to put on a sort of jollity and semblance of well-being; but
the sham is a poor one, and the laughing hypocrites know in their hearts
that the vast gathering of people means merely waste, idleness,
thievery, villainy, vice of all kinds--and there is next to no
compensation for the horrors which are crowded together. I would fain
pick out anything good from the whole wild spectacle; but I cannot, and
so give up the attempt with a sort of sick despair. There is something
rather pleasant in the sight of a merry lad who attends his first Derby,
for he sees only the vivid rush and movement of crowds; but to a
seasoned observer and thinker the tremendous panorama gives suggestions
only of evil. I hardly have patience to consider the fulsome talk of the
writers who print insincerities by the column year by year. They know
that the business is evil, and yet they persist in speaking as if there
were some magic influence in the reeking crowd which, they declare,
gives health and tone to body and mind. The dawdling parties who lunch
on the Hill derive no particular harm; but then how they waste money and
time! Plunderers of all sorts flourish in a species of blind whirl of
knavery; but no w