156 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND 



members of both Houses of Parliament, without 

 distinction of politics, and in spite of a memorial 

 presented by the most eminent personages of the 

 Jockey Club, had been sold, to be restored, how- 

 ever, at a future date (memory says, about 1848, 

 under the auspices of the celebrated clerk of the 

 Council, Mr. C. C. Greville), to such purpose at 

 last that a filly foaled there, by name La Fleche, 

 would be sold as a yearling for the unprecedented 

 pr:ce of 5,500 guineas. The sale was to the 

 benefit of foreigners mostly, especially French, 

 represented by M. Lupin, and Germans, repre- 

 sented by Baron Maltzahn, but also Russians 

 and Americans. Nor did her Majesty become 

 * patroness ' of the Jockey Club, nor did Prince 

 Albert (though his name appears once in the 

 Calendar, that of 1848, as breeder of a colt by 

 Sir Hercules and an Elis mare) figure either as sub- 

 stantive or honorary member of it. In fact, that 

 august body, after having been altogether without 

 a royal figurehead for a few years, had to import 

 its royalty from Holland, to which happy land 

 several bettinof ' firms ' have been driven to retire. 

 Moreover, Newmarket fell into disrepute as a 

 training-ground, and it seemed as if the days of 

 Robert Robson, who had been ' the emperor of 



