FOURTH PERIOD: VICTORIA 193 



It may be remembered that the worthies who 

 swindled Madame de Goncourt, in 1876, out of 

 about ^10,000, to be invested in bets on horse- 

 races, seemed to have adopted this same view of 

 their profession, since they described themselves as 

 ' sworn bookmakers,' in imitation, no doubt, of 

 ' sworn brokers.' 



Her Majesty's reign may or may not have been 

 as remarkable as any other for the excellence of 

 its thoroughbreds, but it has certainly been more 

 remarkable than any other for the prices paid. 

 Lunacy was believed to be obviously on the in- 

 crease when 1,000 guineas were paid for the 

 Flying Dutchman, and the same sum for his half- 

 brother, Kirkleatham, as foals, and for Priam and 

 Zuyder Zee, each, as yearlings ; but that is nothing 

 to what we have arrived at. Sidonia, as a year- 

 ling, fetches 2,000 guineas, and wins his first race, 

 the Batthyany Stakes at Lincoln, not a very 

 valuable affair, at six years of age, in 1880; 

 Maximilian fetches ^4,100 as a yearling, and, 

 after winning next to nothing, is sold at a sale of 

 the Duke of Westminster's horses, in 1880, at five 

 years of age, for 410 guineas, just a tenth of the 

 original price; Mr. Brodrick-Cloete, in 1884, gave 



