worked cuff, I judged to be in domestic service,
but who had on a round hat with a white
feather, a black silk cloak, a scarlet petticoat,
and a crinoline, which fitted her much in the
same way that the " Green" fits Jack on the
first of May. We dropped this young lady at
Snaresbrook, where she was received by a young
man with a larger amount of chin than is usually
bestowed on one individual; the two City men
got out at Woodford, with the Grunter's Grounds
question still hot in dispute; and at Buckhurst
Hill I left the curate and the old lady sole
occupants of the carriage.

  There was no difficulty in finding the way to
the scene of the sports, for the neighbourhood
was alive, and crowds were ascending the hill.
Not very nice crowds either, rather of the
stamp which is seen toiling up Skinner-street
on execution mornings, or which, on Easter
Mondays, fifteen years ago, patronised Chalk
Farm Fair. Close-fitting caps pulled down over
the eyes, with hanks of hair curling out from
underneath, no shirt collars, wisps of cotton
neckcloths, greasy shiny clothes, thick boots,
and big sticks, characterised the male visitors:
while the ladies were remarkably free in their
behaviour. The resident population evidently
did not like us; all the houses were tight
closed, and the residents glared at us hatefully
out of their windows, and received with
scornful looks our derisive remarks. A prolific
neighbourhood, Buckhurst Hill, whither the
moral and cheerful doctrines of the late Mr.
Malthus have apparently not penetrated, as there
was no window without a baby, and there were
many with three; a new neighbourhood, very
much stuccoed, and plate-glassed, and gable-
ended, like the outskirts of a sea-side watering-place;
very new in its shops, where the
baker combined corn-chandlery and life-assurance
agency—the greengrocer had a small coal
and wood and coke tendency—and where you
might be morally certain that under the
shadow of the chemist's bottles and plaster of
Paris horse, lurked bad light-brown cigars. On
Buckhurst Hill one first became aware of the
sporting element in the neighbourhood by the
presence of those singular specimens of
horse-flesh which hitherto had been only associated
in my mind with Hampstead and Blackheath,
wretched wobegone specimens, with shaggy
coats, broken knees, and a peculiar lacklustreness
of eye, and which got pounded along at a
great pace, urged by their riders, who generally
sat upon their necks with curled knees,
after the fashion of the monkeys in the circus
steeple-chase.

  When we got to the top of the hill, we
emerged upon the main road, and joined the
company, who, possessing their own vehicles,
had disdained the use of the railway. The most
popular conveyance I found to be that build
of cart which takes the name of "Whitechapel,"
from the fashionable neighbourhood where it
is most in vogue; but there were also many
four-wheeled chaises, so crammed with occupants
as to merit the appellation of "cruelty-vans,"
constantly bestowed upon them by the
lighthearted mob; there were pleasure-vans filled
with men, women, and children ; a few cabs, and
a large number of those low flat trucks, which
look as if a drawer in a conchologist's cabinet
had been cleared out, put upon wheels, and had
a shambling pony or depressed donkey harnessed
to it, and which, I believe, are technically known
as "flying bedsteads." The dust raised by these
vehicles, and by a very large pedestrian crowd,
was overwhelming ; the noise caused by the
traffic and by the shouting of the many-headed
was terrific; and the thought of an early lunch
in some secluded corner of the Roebuck (a tavern
whence the hunt starts, and which has for many
years enjoyed an excellent reputation), was my
only source of comfort. A few minutes' walk
brought me to an extemporised fair, with
gingerbread stalls, nut-shooting targets, and two
or three cake stands, with long funnels
projecting from them like gigantic post-horns:
which I found from their inscriptions were,
"Queen Victoria's own Rifle Gallery," "The
British Volunteers' Range—Defence not
Defiance—Try a Shot;" and beyond this fair lay the
Roebuck, charmingly quaint, and clean, and
gable-ended, and purple-fronted.

  The crowd round the door was rather thick,
and it was with some diffiulty that I edged my
way over the threshold, and then I came upon a
scene. What should have been the space in front
of the bar, a passage leading through into a railed
court-yard joining upon the garden, some stairs
leading to the upper rooms, and a side-room, the
parlour of the place, were all completely choked
with visitors. And such visitors! The London
rough is tolerably well known to me; I have
seen him in his own peculiar territories in the
neighbourhood of Drury-lane and Shadwell; I
have met him at executions and prize-fights; I
have been in his company during the public
illuminations; but I never saw such specimens
as had taken indisputable possession of the
Roebuck Inn, nor did I ever elsewhere hear such
language. All ages were represented here
—the big burly rough with the receding forehead,
the massive jaw, and the deep-set restless eye;
and the old young boy, the " gonoph," whose
oaths were as full flavoured as those of the men,
and, coming from such childish lips, sounded
infinitely more terrible; brazen girls flaunting in
twopenny finery; and battered women bearing
weazened children in their arms. Approach to the
bar-counter was only possible after determined
and brisk struggles, and loud and fierce were the
altercations as to the prices charged, and the
attempts at evading payment. I could not get out
of the house by the door at which I had entered,
as the crowd behind was gradually forcing me
forward, and I had made up my mind to allow
myself to drift through with the mob, when I
heard a cry of "Clear the road!" and, amid a great
shouting and laughing, I saw a gang of some
thirty ruffians in line, each holding on to the
collar of the man in front of him, make a rush
from the back door to the front, pushing aside
or knocking down all who stood in the way.