A French Haras and Horse Fair. 
893 
made a strong back appear very sliort, this horse is round as 
a beer-barrel, and of a real good sort, suited admirably for van 
or omnibus. A corresponding mare should produce to a 
thoroughbred horse an admirable trooper. A black Percheron 
— we saw quite a troop of them — was as rare as a black swan ; 
all the best families are grey, but authority ordained a change 
of colour, and, as breeding is costly, the breeder fell in with the 
fashion ; this took time, as it was said, with apparent truth, 
liorses do not change their skins as people do their chemises ! 
Make, the French say, the black to sell, the white to keep — 
pour vous et pour la pair ic." Parfait, a white Percheron, with 
the fine grey skin of the East, and thei'e are many of them ; 
this old horse realises his name, has perfect shapes, and is con- 
sidered a typical horse of his admirable and world-famed race 
— honnetes et laborieux — the horse of all work — le clieval d tout 
faire, d tout fairs bien. Everywhere a winner, Parfait's portrait 
was published when he was exhibited at Paris. We did not see 
him out, probably being old he was stiff. Danube, by the Rahe, a 
nice little short-legged English thoroughbred, well calculated 
to get half-bred stock out of country mares of size and substance. 
Cheri, a bay half-bred Breton, four years old, greatly took my 
fancy ; a long, low horse, with substance and symmetry, breadth 
of loin, bone, and firm flat legs, the appearance of underneath 
length being gained by an admirable backward sweep of the 
shoulders ; for any and every purpose an animal of a generally 
good and very useful sort — exactly the equine target at which 
Breton breeders should aim. Basque, by Trocadero, a thorough- 
bred, is an example of the vicious system, which also so un- 
fortunately prevails in England, of breeding from fashion and 
performance. It seems, from a list of victories hung near, that 
Basque was a famous steeple-horse, the sum of whose winnings 
amounted to some 230,000 francs, or 9,200?. in English money. 
For all this, a velocipede of a beast like Basque is hardly the 
sire to choose for getting half-bred horses in any country. 
Lancnsfrc, an old horse of 24' years, was pointed out to me as 
a typical Normandy horse; he had the legs of a colt, with tendons 
clean as fiddlestrings ; he was said to be of the finest Norman 
strain, which I understood to be Noteur blood. Senegal, a half- 
bred Norman, was worthy of observation as a nice horse for 
all ordinary purposes. The other thoroughbred horses I re- 
member are Marin by Sting, and Corlaix by Flying Cloud. If 
I remember rightly, this last was considered the show horse — 
and justly perhaps, for within himself he is a nice horse that 
one would like to ride in the Park; but I may be excused 
if, fresh from the grand exhibition of selected sires at Newcastle, 
