DONOVAN'S DERBY.

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7384, 9 August 1889, Page 2

DONOVAN'S DERBY.

By Phil. Robinson. And what an incomparable spectacle it is that this astonishing unanimity as to the Derby offers to the visitor 1 Let the sky be never so sullen and the day unpropitious, this mi/rfity encampment of people, here for a few hours only, is a memorable sight. Let us accept it as -we may, as an expression of national taste ig a national sport, as a freak of popular fancy, as the outbreak of a hard-working people into the open country for a day's enjoyment, the result is just the sameLet, too, the constituents of the multitude be what they may, and the majority as rough as rough can be, there is a direct majesty in the congregation of each numbers. There is nothing in nature that by sheer mass and weight makes so much impression as a vast crowd, and when, as on Derby Day, the hostss are moved, at certain moments, by a single intelligence, swayed this way and that by the influence of a common thought, the aggregate of excitement, if contem" plated from without, is appalling. To stand still before the great race comes on and listen to the voices of the crowd is to hear the Babel of a populous city. The ear at first fails to comprehend it in all its completeness, or reach its circumference.

But wait awhile. The bell has been ringing the course clear these twenty minutes. The green grass, besprinkled with shredded paper, begins to show again as the crowds are driven back within the ropes. The police suddenly grow into sight, and gathering into knots of forming cordons, gradually become more and more conspicuous as the throng melts away to right and left. At last not a figure is on the turf between the ropesThe Derby doj? has stayed at home for a wonder. Everybody is looking in the direction of the judge's stand, and on a sudden it strikes you that there is almost a dead silence upon Epsom Downs. What is it? Only that the horses are coming out for the preliminary canter. The first is sighted, and the whole crowd knows it at once. A great wind, as it seems, sweeps across the scene, carrying the news in a deep murmur with ifc. Once again the Babel is renewed as each catches sight in turn of the horse of his fancy, and everyone is asking questions or answering them. Suddenly the slowly pacing cavalcade sweeps round upon the turf, and a full view of the field as it canters back raises expectation to enthusiasm. They are gone to the starter and everybody waits. Promiscuous conversation ia heard on all sides, and as for the horses they might as well be at Jericho as at the starting-post.. The crowd seems to have iorgotten the race. Not a bit of it. For on the instant, either from the ground below or the sky above, there breaks out a shout of "They're off!" and, look! That myriad of heads, turning as if on one pair of shoulders, are all gazing in *one direction, and, looking down on the crowd, it is evident they are all intent upon something, and know, too, where, to look for it, for everybody is on,tip-toe, Land staring hard far across the Downs to where a sprinkling of people standing on the crest of the swelling ground show out distinctly against the sky.

That all are intently watching the same spot is soon made evident. For there is suddenly a movement among the distant silhouetted figures. The crowd recognises its meaning like one man, and a simultaneous shout, "Here they come," bursts-f rom a multitude of throats. In a moment's glitter of colour, showing brightly against the dust dark sky, the horses and their riders gleam tor an instant upon the crest and then, shooting round the corner, flash full in sight. And then the crowd! Listen to the host of voices, if you can calmly do so. It is enough to shake Jericho into ruins and uproot her palms as well. It is the shouting of Homeric giants going into battle against Olympus; and then, gathering itself together into one terrific volume of sound, the roar goes thundering by with the voice of Niagra in; its winter flood. The racers all together come swiftly on, colour replacing colour with terrible rapidity, until at last the measure of the field is taken, and the winners that are to be, and will not be gainsaid, shoot oat from the rest. The crowds arefrantic. Another half-miniate and surely everyone will go mad. But the group of horses, with their bright hues, is already past, and, just as when some great ship passes up the narrow waterways* wave rolls along the banks, so all op the green strip of turf the shouts of the populace followed the passage of the field, culminating in one incomparable cry, as if a people had suddenly seen their capital engulfed or a host proclaimed the moment of an overwhelming victory.

Bat why or -wherefore it will puzde philosophy to explain- Nevertheless,-the Derby Day, let its explanation be what it may. is a memorable sight.