might have expected to have found a great sporting exchange
and auction mart, of horses and carriages, to have been,
in a great city like London, had he been merely told that
such was the object of the place, and then left to imagine
the scene. It was, as I have before said, a mixed and
motley crowd; and must necessarily be so, where agents
attend to bid for their principals, where servants are
in waiting upon their masters, and above all, where the
ingress is open to every one.

It is, however, unquestionably the resort of gentlemen.
In a great and rich country like this, there must,
unavoidably, be a Tattersall's; and the wonder is, not
that it is not better, but that it is not infinitely
worse. Lake all striking pictures, it had strong lights
and shades. Those who have suffered, are apt to retaliate;
and a man who has been duped, too often thinks he has a
right to make reprisals. Tattersall's, therefore, is not
without its privateers. Many persons of rank and character
patronize sporting, from a patriotic but mistaken notion,
that it is to the turf alone the excellence of the English
horse is attributable.

One person of this description, whom I saw there for a
short time, I had the pleasure of knowing before; and
from him I learned many interesting anecdotes of individuals
whom he pointed out as having been once well known about
town, but whose attachment to gambling had effected their
ruin. Personal stories of this kind are, however, not
within the scope of this work.