CONCLUSION 353 



the estate passed to the Condes ; it will be enough to 

 refer to the last representative of these latter, who was 

 found one morning, stark dead, hanging by a cord to 

 one of the windows of the chateau. He had bequeathed 

 this noble property to the Duke d'Aumale, a younger 

 brother of the Duke d'Orleans (patron of the French 

 Jockey Club). The Duke and Duchess d'Orleans (after 

 the establishment of the racecourse in 1833-34) did the 

 honours of the Chateau of Chantilly, whither, in con- 

 sequence, it soon became ' the thing ' to repair from 

 Paris for the race week. Chantilly is about thirty 

 miles from Paris, and in the days of the Duke and 

 Duchess d'Orleans it was ' the thing ' to go ' post,' with 

 the usual blue-jacketed and yellow-breeched postilions, 

 to do the journey ' in two,' stopping one night at some 

 wayside inn ; to take a train of servants, a service of 

 plate, and other furniture ; to be as expensive and luxu- 

 rious as possible, in fact — insomuch that Lord Henry 

 Seymour, the head of the ' viveurs,' is said to have paid 

 1,000 francs (or 40/.) for a tent (or ' pavilion') which 

 he only used once — just to breakfast in. 



So things went on until the railway came to destroy 

 the ' outing ' in some respects, but to greatly facilitate 

 the means of locomotion, to increase the attendance on 

 the course, and so to make the meetmg more prosperous, 

 and until in 1852, by decree of Napoleon III., dated 

 June 22, the estate of Chantilly was sold. It was 

 bought, if there be no mistake, by Messrs. Coutts, the 

 bankers (possibly acting for the Duke d'Aumale), for 

 11,000,000 francs (440,000/.), and was let on lease, 

 being occupied, wholly or in part, at one time or 

 another, by Lord Cowley, M. Duchatel (a former 

 minister of Louis Philippe's), and the Duke de la Tre- 

 mouille. Still the racing went on ; and the gaieties 



A A 



