Isthmian games, been carried off by steeds of foreign birth. The French Gladiateur, the Hungarian Kisber, the American Iroquois, have beaten the best English horses on the most famous English course. The Greek designation of the Epsom meeting is due to the classic tastes of Lord Palmerston, the heraldic title of the race to the Oriental fancy of Lord Beaconsfield. Old Pam used to christen his horses out of the Eneid, to the dire confusion of honest book-makers, who never could agree as to the pronunciation of the name of Priam's splendid daughter Ilione, the winner of the Cesarewitch. It was therefore quite in keeping with the character of the English Premier to move "that the House do adjourn over Wednesday, to allow honorable members to be present at our Isthmian games." When Lord George Bentinck quitted the turf for the House of Commons he sold his stud. On the 22d of May, 1848, his protectionist resolutions were negatived in the House; on the 24th, Surplice, one of the horses he had parted with, won the Derby. "All my life," he

sympathizing Disraeli in vain strove to console his friend. "You do not know what the Derby is ?" replied Lord George. "Yes, I do. It is the Blue Ribbon of the Turf," was the answer. Perhaps we may say that there would have been neither Isthmian games nor blue ribbons of the turf if General Gates had not been victorious at Saratoga. Without that defeat General Burgoyne would not have sold his hunting-box at Epsom to Lord Derby, and without the possession of that hunting-box by that nobleman there would have been no Derby race. became famous for its Epsom salts, and the fashion and beauty of London used to flock to the little Surrey village to drink the waters.

Epsom first

Our gossiping friend Pepys was there, and "did drink four pints." He found there Nell Gwynne, Sir Charles Sedley, and other reprobates of both sexes, who did not drink the nauseous fluid, but amused themselves with cards and dances in the evening, horse-racing and hunting in the morning, and severe flirting at all hours. Gradually the races

downs was the only attraction left. From the foundation of the Derby in 1780, when Sir Charles Bunbury's Diomed came in first of nine starters, the Epsom meeting has constantly increased in interest. In the long list of winning owners all classes are represented, from royal dukes to sporting publicans, while for the names of the winning horses time and space seem to have been ransacked. Between the Homeric Diomed and the American Iroquois we have aristocratic Sir Harry, Prince Leopold, and Lord Lyon mingled with plebeian Sam, Moses, and Daniel O'Rourke. It is a common English practice to name colts with some reference to their parents. Thus Macaroni was by Sweetmeat, Orlando by Touchstone, and Hermit by Newminster out of Seclusion. In other cases the mother has given the hint for the name. Favonius was the son of Zephyr, Gladiateur of Miss Gladiator, while Beadsman and Bluegown owe their beggarly appellations to Sir Joseph Hawley's mare Mendicant. Till 1865 no foreigner had tri

horse which can boast of the fourfold palms of the Two Thousand Guineas, the Derby, the Grand Prix of Paris, and the St. Leger. He was sixteen hands high, a bay with black legs; he had a large plain head, well-arched neck, powerful sloping shoulders, muscular arms and thighs, and was deep in the girth. So developed was his form that ungracious doubts as to his age were expressed, till a veterinary examination proved that they were unfounded. Gladiateur's best race was as a four-yearold for the Ascot Cup, when he defeated Regalia and Breadalbane. Eleven years elapsed before another foreigner scored a triumph. On this occasion the victor, Kisber, came from Hungary. He was by Buccaneer out of Mineral, and was bred at the great imperial-royal stud farm at Kisber, which was then managed by Count Zoest. This grand establishment comprises 15,648 acres, and all the work on it is done by soldiers. Kisber was fifteen hands three inches high; in color he was a hard bay with a ruddy tinge, black points,

plain head, very muscular neck, and splendid shoulders and loins. As a two-yearold he had only run four times, and only

won one race.

The first of Americans to challenge the British sportsmen on their own ground was Mr. Ten Broeck. His horses, Prioress, Starke, Optimist, and Umpire, all won valuable stakes, the first-named being in 1857 the heroine of a dead-heat for the Cesarewitch with Queen Bess and El Hakim, and winning the deciding heat. Umpire started in the Derby of 1860 on even terms in the betting with Mr. Merry's Thormanly. We need not refer to the performances of Parole, but come at once to the most brilliant achievements of American horses in 1881. It was no unknown horse that carried Mr. Lorillard's striped sleeves to victory. Iroquois was born in America, trained by an American, and had won fame on the American turf before he landed in England. He unfortunately missed the Two Thousand Guineas, but won the

| Derby by half a length, and the St. Leger, over a longer course, by a length. The throngs of horse-taming Yorkshire men who crowd the Town Moor at Doncaster are better judges of genuine sport than the Londoners who make an annual holiday at Epsom, and the welcome they gave to Iroquois was warmer than the ovation accorded to him at Epsom. Iroquois is a brown horse with one white fore-foot, and shows splendid action and staying powers. In both races he enjoyed the benefit of Archer's riding, Lord Falmouth resigning his claim to that jockey's services in the St. Leger. Between these two great events he won the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Ascot, giving nine pounds. The success of Mr. Lorillard's horse is to be attributed in no small degree to his American trainer, Pincas, who, as a well-informed correspondent of the Spirit of the Times writes, "took a lame horse from the hands of his predecessor and won the great event of the year." How great a

Kentucky, and was purchased by his fortunate owner for the small sum of $650. He is a dark bay, with black points, and the near hind pastern white. He has a clean head, light neck, a back a trifle too lengthy, but a good barrel, and shoulders of admirable power. He was the first American colt that ever ran in France. The finish for the Grand Prix was magnificent. Archer was riding the French colt Tristan, and as they came along the homestretch rode his very best, and lifted his horse almost even to Foxhall. A shout of "Tristan! Tristan!" was rending the air from thousands of excited Frenchmen, the horses were almost past the Jockey Club stand, when Fordham for the first time raised his whip. A cut on the shoulder of Foxhall is answered by a grand leap

VOL. LXVII.-No. 399.-22

Stakes, with 127 pounds, he again defeated with the utmost ease his old French rival Tristan; in the Cambridgeshire, with 126 pounds on his back, he defeated Lucy Glitters, carrying 91 pounds, by a head, while Tristan came in third, with 107 pounds. Among the horses not placed by the judge in this last race was the Derby victor of 1880, Bend Or, carrying 134 pounds. In the Champion Stakes, ten days before the Cambridgeshire, Bend Or, with 130 pounds, had defeated Iroquois with only 116 on his back. But we must not rashly infer anything as to the relative merits of the two American horses from these performances, as Iroquois was quite fourteen pounds below his Derby form. Foxhall's double victory in the two great Newmarket handicaps has had