THE RENAISSANCE FOLLOWING THE REVOLUTION 67 



tany draft, Picardy, Cauchois and Boulonnais stocks 

 have been employed. We regret that we are obliged 

 to refute these involuntary errors on the part of the 

 honorable writer, who has been deceived by false in- 

 dications. The Percheron breed has not been en- 

 larged in size except by its own blood, just as we 

 shall be able to prove by a notice on the Percheron 

 breed which we shall publish later." 



We shall shortly provide the proof that it is not 

 necessary to look to either Godolphin or Gallipoly, 

 nor indeed to any other out-crossing, to account for 

 the pre-stud-book Percheron and his color. He was 

 big and he was gray at the very time these saddle 

 horses were in service. In the meantime it need 

 only be said that those who incorporated this ' ' tra- 

 dition" into the initial volume of the stud book are 

 not to be faulted for so doing. The story was given 

 currency by a writer who knew and loved the Per- 

 cheron, and who would not knowingly mislead any- 

 body in respect to their derivation. There was none 

 to deny or disprove it. Du Hays was unquestionably 

 sincere in his belief in the tales someone had told 

 him as to these horses. The Societe Hippique Per- 

 cheronne had no special reason for doubting the 

 truth of the statements made. At the time of the 

 publication of the first stud book, its sponsors were 

 simply seeking to place on record the names of latter- 

 day breeding horses. They very naturally did not 

 undertake any detailed investigations touching a 

 matter so remote and of purely academic interest. 

 In other words, they were not writing history; they 

 were making it. 



