The barouche of Sir Gilbert Sampson was most conveniently placed; and on the box thereof sat Celestina Sampson at her father’s side, and within were two other young ladies attended by the fragrant Henry Augustus Tippetson. The morning was fine, and the ground was brilliant. Rank, beauty, and fashion were there; the cream of English nobility; the stars of English beauty; souls of the first order; the pride of that nation which is the pride of the world. Glorious was the object for which they were assembled, and deep was the feeling with which their minds were animated. Who could look without emotion, or think without interest, on a scene like this? Where should our hereditary legislators, our modern Solons and Lycurguses, so well learn the science of government as in converse with black-legs and stable-boys? What occupation so befitting the most noble, the right honorable of the land--the superfine part of the species--the arbiters of the world’s destiny--the brightest lights of the collective wisdom of the nation--as the spending of princely fortunes to see how much faster one horse can run than another? And when the horses start, and while they are straining all their sinews, and while one rogue or another is trying how much he can make of the simpletons there, how intense is the interest! Every eye is strained, every neck is stretched, breathing is almost suspended, and the heart is almost afraid to beat; and when the great event is decided, then how many purses change hands, and how many blockheads go home again repenting their folly. But let that pass. It is enough for us here to state that the Hon. Philip Martindale was the winner, and that to a very considerable amount. He received the congratulations of his friends. Sir Gilbert and Miss Sampson congratulated him. Henry Augustus Tippetson congratulated him. Philip, however, had many accounts to settle; some on one side, and some on the other. There was not one to whom he lost a bet who found any inconvenience in receiving it--there were a few of whom he won who found it inconvenient to pay. Some of those to whom he paid were so very desirous that he should win again what he had lost, that they politely and considerately invited him to the hazard-table; and when he left the hazard-table, he was not so much an object of congratulation as he had been at the conclusion of the race. He was very much fatigued; quite worn out by the day’s toil and the night’s play. Legislation must be quite rest and refreshment to the honorable, right honorable, and most noble frequenters of the race-course and the hazard-table.