has been blackballed, that is certain. But there is no more news, except
that the Wiltshires are going to the Continent: we know why; and that
the Spankers are making more dash than ever: God knows how! Adieu!

'B. D. V.'

The letter ended; all things end at last. A she-correspondent for our
money; provided always that she does not _cross_.

Our Duke--in spite of his disgrace, he still is ours, and yours too, I
hope, gentlest reader--our Duke found himself at Cleve Park again, in a
different circle from the one to which he had been chiefly accustomed.
The sporting world received him with open arms. With some of these
worthies, as owner of Sanspareil, he had become slightly acquainted.
But what is half a morning at Tattersall's, or half a week at Doncaster,
compared with a meeting at Newmarket? There your congenial spirits
congregate. Freemasons every man of them! No uninitiated wretch there
dares to disturb, with his profane presence, the hallowed mysteries.
There the race is not a peg to hang a few days of dissipation on, but
a sacred ceremony, to the celebration of which all men and all
circumstances tend and bend. No balls, no concerts, no public
breakfasts, no bands from Litolf, no singers from Welsh, no pineapples
from Gunter, are there called for by thoughtless thousands, who have
met, not from any affection for the turfs delights or their neighbour's
cash, but to sport their splendid liveries and to disport their showy
selves.

The house was full of men, whose talk was full of bets. The women were
not as bad, but they were not plentiful. Some lords and signors were
there without their dames. Lord Bloomerly, for instance, alone, or
rather with his eldest son, Lord Bloom, just of age, and already a
knowing hand. His father introduced him to all his friends with that
smiling air of self-content which men assume when they introduce a
youth who may show the world what they were at his years; so the Earl
presented the young Viscount as a lover presents his miniature to his
mistress. Lady Afy shone in unapproached perfection. A dull Marchioness,
a _gauche_ Viscountess, and some other dames, who did not look like the
chorus of this Diana, acted as capital foils, and permitted her to meet
her cavalier under what are called the most favourable auspices.

They dined, and discussed the agricultural interest in all its exhausted
ramifications. Wheat was sold over again, even at a higher price;
poachers were recalled