FROM HOWL FOR 'RECIPROCITY' TO PRESENT DAY 277 



harm or wrest from him — for more than a moment — 

 his supremacy and his prestige. There has been no 

 Gladiateur since 1865, no Kisber since 1876, no Cha- 

 raant since 1877, no Eayon d'Or since 1879, no Iroquois 

 since 1881 ; and, whatever John Bull may think, it is 

 not for Frenchmen to regret that the deeds of Foxhall 

 in 1881 in England were almost paralleled in 1885 by 

 those of Plaisanterie, or if the Fille de I'Air of 1864 

 had her example followed by t]ie Eeine of 1872, the 

 Camelia and the Enguerrande of 1876. At any rate 

 the swarm of ' Americans ' and other ' strange ' cattle 

 that threatened the English Turf in 1881 and the follow- 

 ing years liave either disappeared altogether or have 

 done no permanent damage in any case to Englishmen or 

 Frenchmen. But that as long as England supplies the 

 world with her own ' crack ' thoroughbreds one or two 

 of their descendants should swoop down from time to 

 time upon her racecourses and ' clear the board ' is only 

 what might be expected and is no more than fair, con- 

 sidering that she offers the rod for her own back — for a 

 ' consideration ' of course, and a mighty remunerative 

 one too. There is no great chance, however, to judge 

 from all appearances, that the foreigners' occasional 

 superiority will become ch.ronic. More will be said upon 

 this point hereafter. 



To return to the strayed slieep, or rather to make 

 the strayed sheep return. 



In 1882 the French nose was still very much out of 

 joint, although M. Lefevre, with the help of his English 

 horses chiefly, managed to stand second among ' winning 

 owners ' in England with 15,087/. against Mr. W. S. 

 Crawfurd's 25,797/. Count F. de Lagrange was very low 

 down, with 3,175/. among' winning owners' in England 

 (tlie redoubtable Mr. P. Lorillard having dropped to 



