834 THE JOCKEY CLUB 1835- 



an end to the * Training Keports,' which had been 

 introduced into some of the ' sporting newspapers ' ; 

 and on the suggestion of Admiral Eous, it was agreed 

 that * the Committee lately appointed to consider the 

 new rules should advise on the best mode of dealing 

 with the subject.' What conclusion the Committee 

 came to, matters little ; for we all know that the 

 1 nuisance ' (if that be the proper name for it), so far 

 from being abolished or abated, has become greater 

 than ever, and that the information afforded (though 

 perhaps of no practical use to any living creature) is 

 daily paraded in detail and devoured with avidity by 

 thousands, who derive as much comfort, if as little 

 profit from it, as the old lady derived from 'that 

 blessed word Mesopotamia.' In this year 1876, 

 moreover, the Club had its attention drawn to the 

 question of ' reciprocity ' between the English Turf 

 and the French, a reciprocity demanded, it was said, 

 by the success of French horses on our race-courses 

 in 1876, to the tune of some 26,OOOZ. So that Lords 

 Falmouth (of all men in the world), Vivian, and 

 Hardwicke gave notice of measures to be brought 

 before the Jockey Club in 1877 in restriction of 

 French liberty to win our stakes. It was to be ' reci- 

 procity ' or ' warning off.' Ultimately, as we know, 

 the measures were all shelved, and the question was 

 not revived until Plaisanterie won both Cesarewitch 

 and Cambridgeshire in 1885 (as Foxhall, the Ameri- 

 can, had done in 1881, without raising any desire 



