The next vortex of high dissipation into which, as its season arrived,
young Burney was ushered, was that of Newmarket: and there, as far as
belonged to the spirit of the race, and the beauty, the form, and the
motions of the noble quadrupeds, whose rival swiftness made running
seem a flight, and that flight appear an airy game, or gambol, of some
fabled animal of elastic grace and celerity, he was enchanted with his
sojourn. And the accompanying scenes of gambling, betting, &c., though
of the same character and description as those of St. James’s-street,
he thought less darkly terrible, because the winners or losers seemed
to him more generally assorted according to their equality in rank
or fortune: though no one, in the long run, however high, or however
low, escaped becoming the dupe, or the prey, of whoever was most
adroit,—whether plebeian or patrician.