on in such cases,
if I was back already; a question to which it seems difficult to find
a suitable reply, if one's bodily presence is not to be accepted as a
sufficient evidence of the fact. Many others volunteered to put me
on to various absolute certainties, and one man chilled my newly-born
racing-patriotism by observing, that he would as soon have thought of
seeing FRED ARCHER at a meeting of the British Association.

[Illustration]

I don't mean to describe the scene on the Downs. One crowd is much
like another; and, when you have said something of the proverbial
good-nature of a British crowd, you have done all that can be justly
required of you, after seeing a hunted wretch all but torn in pieces
by a mob of blackguards worse than himself. However, I think I enjoyed
myself well enough. Others enjoyed themselves more, and amongst these
was a party of roystering, jovial fellows, who ate a hearty luncheon,
and drank much champagne, on the top of a hired drag. One of them
particularly attracted my attention. Somewhere, I knew, I had seen
that curious, clean-shaved, bull-frog face before. It was perfectly
familiar to me, but, for the life of me, I couldn't recall the
circumstances in which I had previously set eyes on it. He appeared
to be the leader of the revels, and kept his companions in fits of
laughter at his sallies. I beat my brains to remember him, but all
in vain. All that I could arrive at was a sense of incongruity, an
impression of the unexpected in the spectacle I had witnessed.

In the evening I went to the "Frivolity," to see the latest rays of
the lamp of burlesque. That scene, at any rate, was familiar.
There, in all their spotless panoply of expressionless face, and
irreproachable shirt-front, sat the golden lads of the Metropolis
in their rows, images of bored stupidity, stiffly cased in black
and white. There too, were to be seen the snowy shoulders and the
sparkling jewels of the ladies both of the smart and of the higher
half world, with here and there an extensive dowager to add weight and
decorum to the throng. The curtain drew up on one of the usual scenes
of rejoicing. Shapely ladies, in tights, chorused their delight at the
approaching nuptials of a great lord's daughter. Then the contented
peasantry of the surrounding district stepped forward to swell the
joyful strains, and to be regaled with draughts of sparkling
emptiness from the inexhaustible beaker wielded by the landlord of
the