It was propounded as a question in the columns of one of the sporting journals some years ago that it would be interesting to know how many men were alive who had seen the race run about the year 1820, or even a year or two later; but I do not know if any, or how many answers were returned. In Bluegown's year, however, I conversed at a wayside tavern with an old man who was making his way to Epsom Downs on foot, who had, as a child, seen Eleanor win the Derby of 1801. Among the horse-racing men of Yorkshire there are three or four reputed to be alive who have witnessed more than fifty consecutive races for the St. Leger, and there may, perhaps, be people yet living who have as many times witnessed the struggle for the Derby. Curiously enough, when I ventured in my history of the "Blue Ribbon of the Turf" to renew this question, which is, I think, neither frivolous nor devoid of interest, I was "heavily sneered at" by one of the cocksure critics of the period who thought the matter unworthy of consideration. The race at the date of Eleanor's victory was twenty-two years old, having been instituted in 1780. During the first ten years of the Derby the accumulated stakes amounted to 11,005 gs. When the race was inaugurated the number of subscribers was thirty-six, and the following is a list of the horses which formed the field: Sir Charles Bunbury's Diomed, Major O'Kelly's Bowdrow, Mr. Walker's Spitfire, Sir F. Evelyn's Wotton, Mr. Panton's colt by Herod, Duke of Cumberland's colt by Eclipse, Mr. Dulsh's colt by Cardinal Puff, Mr. Delme's colt by Gimcrack, and the Duke of Bolton's Bay Bolton. As regards the number of subscriptions to the race in its earlier days, it may be here recorded that up to and including 1800 the following figures denote the entries: 36, 35, 35, 34, 30, 29, 29, 33, 30, 30, 32, 32, 32, 50, 49, 45, 45, 37, 37, 33, and 33, respectively.