THE FIRST STRUGGLES 59 



fallen fortunes of the once famous horse The Wizard 

 (winner of our Two Thousand in 1860) when the son 

 of West Australian, being an exile in Germany, ' was 

 reduced to smiling on half-bred beauty for fifteen 

 shillings (five thalers).' The fee for Ion, for Lanercost, 

 for other ' cracks ' apparently, was but 200 francs, or 

 8/. ; for Nuncio but 150 francs, or Ql. ; for Nunnykirk 

 but 75 francs, or 3/., for some seasons ; and for the rest 

 on a similar scale. The time was not yet foreseen when 

 a native French sire, as Flageolet in 1880, would be 

 advertised at 5,000 francs, or 200/., a mare, as if he 

 were a Stockwell or the peer of The Hermit, son of 

 Newminster. 



