THE TURF. 
ways ; it turns out, inter alia, as pretty an " Annual," 
whether we look to the poetry or the engraving, as any 
one could have expected from a place of three times its 
standing ; though the engraving, to be sure, may be ac- 
counted for. 
Until lately France made very little progress in 
racing ; it did not, neither do we think it ever will, 
generally suit the taste of that people. Much encou- 
ragement, however, being given to it by the govern- 
ment, in addition to a strong penchant for the sport in 
the heir-apparent to the throne, it is at present greatly 
on the increase ; and there are no less than twenty- 
four race meetings* advertised in the French "Racing 
Calendar," in France and Belgium ; at several of which 
very good prizes are contended for, and the horses 
trained and ridden by English grooms and jockeys. 
The principal ones of France are those of Paris and Chan- 
tilly, and that of Belgium, Brussels, at which prizes 
worth contending for are given ; and at the first named 
place there are two meetings in each year, namely, in 
May and September. Each of these countries also has 
its Jockey Club and "Racing Calendar;" and some 
idea may be formed of the interest taken by the nobility 
and gentry, to whom such matters are at present con- 
fined the betting man, or leg, not having yet made 
* Aix-la-Chapelle, Aurillac, Blois, Bordeaux, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Brux- 
elles, Chantillv, Compiegne, Jouy (au clocher), Liege, Limoges, Maisons- 
sur-S^ine, Moulins, Namur, Nanci, Nantes, Paris, Pir (le), St. Brieux, 
St. Josse-te-Noode, St. Trond, Spa, Tarbes, Versailles. 
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