BEFORE THE DAYS OF THE SOCIETE D' ENCOURAGEMENT 3 



as every other supremacy), having been intended by 

 Providence for France, has been diverted — for a while, 

 if not for ever — to England and the English. 



The first systematic efforts to improve the French 

 breed of horses were made in the reign of Louis XIV. 

 by the great minister Colbert, who founded the Ad- 

 ministration des Ilaras, which has been continued to 

 this day. The Administration, however, did not con- 

 cern itself with horse-racing as a means of improve- 

 ment ; its chief, if not only, care was to provide at the 

 expense of the State well-bred stud horses, whether 

 Arabian or Eastern or other, whose services should be 

 placed within reach of all and sundry on payment of 

 an almost nominal fee. The ' demi-sansf ' or ' half-bred' 

 horse, the ' cocktail,' as it has been commonly called, 

 was all that was looked for at the very best : the 

 ' thorouglibred ' and the horse-racing by which alone 

 the ' thorouglibred ' can be tested were as yet dis- 

 regarded by the Administration. It was not till after 

 the Great Eevolution, after the First Empire, after the 

 second restoration and the death of Louis XVIII. , when 

 the Dauphin, son of Charles X., established his stud at 

 Meudon, with the Duke de Guiche as Master of the 

 Horse, with Mr. Corringham (a well-known English 

 trainer) as director of the establisliment, and with 

 Eowlston (son of Camillus), purchased in England and 

 imported into France in 1827, as ' chief of the stud,' 

 that the Administration can be said to have obtained 

 touch of such horse-racing as there was in France. It 

 is true that, during the First Empire, from about 1806 

 to 1810, races were instituted, and there had been issued 

 a ' re^lement sur la reorganisation des haras et des 

 courses; ' that in 1820, after the Restoration, there had 

 beeii published another decree concerning the age and 



B 2 



