above those abrupt dips in which the ground abounds, all tending in one
direction, all bent on one object. At length our carriage, (which has
been intimating its purpose shortly to stop,) pulls up definitely, and
Joseph, having already told us that he can neither move backward nor
forward, touches his hat for orders. On such an occasion, we resigned
ourselves to wait, without any feeling of impatience, finding sufficient
amusement, both from the distant prospect and in the immediate vicinity;
sometimes watching the wheeling of those sporting characters, the
Peregrine Hawks overhead, now listening to the warbling of the loudest
lark music we ever remember to have heard; then exchanging a few words
with some roadside acquaintance, and anon giving ourselves up
exclusively to the silent enjoyment of the weather. We were kept long
enough in all conscience, waiting till even the quietly expectant
Romans, drilled by their church into habits of great forbearance, at
length began to murmur aloud disapprobation, and we could hear one
coachman ask another "_Quando quel benidetto stippel-chess_" was to be;
while the respondent, shrugging his shoulders, growled out for answer a
"_Chi lo sa_!" Meanwhile our attention was fitfully resuscitated by a
rider in costume doing a bit of turf, by an unsaddled racer led across
the ground, or by men on horseback carrying small flags to stake at the
different leaps; sometimes by an English oath, startling the _Genius
loci_ or whoever heard it; or more agreeably by a display of voluble
young countrywomen, standing tiptoe on their carriage seats, eager to
see the first fall, and permitting the young men who swaggered by to
scare them into the prettiest attitudes of dismay, by a prophetical
announcement of the bones that would be broken before the race was won.
Some little buzz there is about unfairness and jockeyship, when we
catch, from the mouth of our Anglo-Roman livery-stable-man, who chanced
to be near, that "the osses is a-saddling." It took long to saddle; long
to mount; and some time still before they started, during which interval

"The jockeys keep their horses on the fret,
And each gay Spencer prompts the noisy bet,
Till drops the signal; then, without demur,
Ten horses start,--ten riders whip and spur;
At first a line an easy gallop keep,
Then forward press, to take th' approaching leap:
Abreast go red and yellow; after these
Two more succeed; one's down upon his knee