g season;
one and all gave me most positive assurance that if I remained in the
country I should neither lack bed nor board for many a day to come.

But a few days before, and in my ignorance I had set down this same
class as rude, underbred, and uncivilised; and had I left the country on
the preceding evening, I should have carried away my prejudices with
me. The bare imitation of his better that the squireen presents was the
source of this blunder; the spurious currency had, by its false glitter,
deteriorated the sterling coin in my esteem; but now I could detect the
counterfeit from the genuine metal.

'The ladies are on this side,' said Mr. Dillon. 'Shall we make our bow
to them?'

'You'll not have time, Dillon,' said a friend who overheard his remark:
'here come the horses.'

As he spoke, a distant cheer rose from the bottom of the hill, which,
gradually taken up by those nearer, grew louder and louder, till it
filled the very air.

'What is it?' said I eagerly.

'It's Jug of Punch,' said a person beside me. 'The mare was bred in the
neighbourhood, and excites a great interest among the country-people.'

The crowd now fell back rapidly, and Mr. Burke, seated in a high tandem,
dashed up to the weighing-stand, and, giving the reins to his servant,
sprang to the ground. His costume was a loose coat of coarse drab cloth,
beset on every side by pockets of various shapes and dimensions; long
gaiters of the same material incased his legs, and the memorable white
hat, set most rakishly on his head, completed his equipment.

Scarcely had he put foot to the ground when he was surrounded by a
number of his obsequious followers; but, paying little or no attention
to their proffered civilities, he brushed rudely through them, and
walked straight up to where I was standing. There was an air of
swaggering insolence in his manner which could not be mistaken; and I
could mark that, in the sidelong glance he threw about him, he intended
that our colloquy should be for the public ear. Nodding familiarly,
while he touched his hat with one finger, he addressed me.

'Good-morning, sir; I am happy to have met you so soon. There is a
report that we are to have no race: may I ask you if there be any ground
for it?'

'Not so far as I am concerned,' replied I, in a tone of quiet
indifference.

'At least,' resumed he, 'there would seem some colour for the rumour.
Your horse is not here--I understand he has not left the stable--a