About This Book
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1852. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER IV. FLATS AND SHARPS. A Race-course has its music; at all events, we are now among the flats and sharps. Here you see, on a small scale, some of those characters who, on a more extended field, and with better training, might become famous financiers, or equally famous diplomatists. Here you may encounter some inglorious Rothschild, and witness instances of petty dexterity in policy which might honor Metternich. Look you now, for example, at the person who approaches us. His shabby exterior and lounging manner would hardly fix your attention, unless you were first assured that there was a meaning under it; mark him closely, and you will discover a certain significance in his eye and bearing which shows that he has his object. He is not the stolid indifferent that he seems to the casual observer. His eye, shrouding his glances as he may under the heavy penthouse of his bushy brows, is that of the hawk, as, wheeling aloft, he casts sidelong glances upon the covey of partridge that crouch along the bramble thicket. His quiet, cool, and easy carriage; the half smile that plays about his mouth, while his face presents a dull, unmeaning gravity; his manner, at once listless and observant; his evident acquaintance with everything and everybody; and the fact that, while he seems to seek nobody, he is seldom, himself without a follower; all declare a character and talent of his own. But, what sort of talent? The scene in which he appears so entirely at home, and the costume which he wears, present us with a clue to his secret. He is one of the heroes of the turf. This, though on a somewhat humble scale, is the scene of his victories. Ho knows every race-course and horse of heels in Georgia; knows every jockey, and his dimensions; and, a well-known sharp him...
