fraternity, whose annual lettings' at Albert Gate seem to be things of the past. But we must hark back for a moment to supply an omission in the case of St. Albans, whose representatives we had forgotten to include in our notice of the Ailesbury crack. Julius finds much favour at Newmarket, and his foals, we are told, have come bigger and stronger than in former years, but of the same fine quality. Martyrdom makes fair way in the North, and in St. Mungo and the Primate we have a pair of bearers of the yellow jacket not altogether unknown to fame. Costa hails from the same distinguished academy, and though not so much the rage as his namesake, Clearwell's recent success and one or two likely-looking yearlings at Cobham, may make us regret that we have hitherto neglected this

veritable Last of the Barons.'

Rataplan's great card, Kettledrum, having left the country, he has to fall back upon performers of lesser note on the Turf, but of better repute as sires. The Miner is getting some very useful stock in Yorkshire, but we have not seen him since he joined the stud, and cannot speak as to his looks. Elland did one or two 'tall things during the time he was Lord Lyons's schoolmaster at Ilsley, but at present his stallion performances have been of no higher order than his pupil's. He was a 'ripe and good' stayer, however; and the same may be said of Blinkhoolie, from whom Mr. Watson could not make up his mind to part when the Waresley beauties were dispersed last summer. He gets rather small neat stock, like himself, but will doubtless be capable of better things when he attains his prime. His Queen Mary blood makes him especially valuable, and he is cast quite in his dam's mould, without a particle of Rataplan's character about him. Those worthies, the Drummer and Field Marshal, are much of the same class, and we hear Alpenstock is standing at Danebury, thus making another representative of the Rataplan subdivision.

The LANERCOST line brings to a close our Darley Arabian annotations, and it is deeply to be regretted that so stout and excellent a strain should be but indifferently represented amongst us. Breeders are too apt to fight shy of what they are pleased to term 'ponies' like Lecturer, forgetful of Parmesan's unequivocal success, and unmindful of more than one gigantic failure. The little Colsterdale phenomenon has, however, plenty of time before him, and we look to him rather than to the moderate Accident for raising up seed to Lanercost. Through the handsome Van Tromp we descend through Van Galen to Van Amburgh, the best horse in Europe,' and the rather commoner-looking Ploughboy, to neither of which public fancy can be said to point as yet, though the 'lion-tamer' should have a more than average chance among his owner's mares at the Warren. There is hardly a hope of the expatriated Tim Whiffler bringing the Lanercosts once more into repute through any of his sons; for we know nothing of Midsummer's location, and Coventry is hardly class enough to command patronage in these pushing days.

THE BYERLEY TURK.

No one interested in the pursuits of breeding can look without apprehension upon the probable extinction of so many branches of this distinguished tribe. The Pantaloon, Venison, Alarm, and Bay Middleton subdivisions are in danger of actual annihilation; and it is difficult to find more than a third-rater among their representatives of the present day. It may be as well to dispose of these at once, before proceeding to a consideration of the more important sections, which stand in less danger of neglect and oblivion. From GLADIATOR, through his son Fitz Gladiator, we arrive at Montagnard, a fair-class horse, and one who gave some indications of staying powers over long courses both at Newmarket and Epsom. So far we cannot call to mind any of his stock having appeared either in the sale ring or on the racecourse, but we consider the strain worth preserving amongst us.

The sudden defection of the PANTALOONS is deeply to be regretted, but there is still a hope that Thormanby may have some posthumous successor worthier to sustain the family honours than Normanby or Merry Sunshine, though the latter promised to make up into a very grand horse indeed. The public, however, must have deeds, and not words; and we think it a pity for so smart a horse as Normanby to be passing away his hours of idleness at Eltham. Windham, we are assured, is alive, and intent on schemes of propagation, but we cannot look upon him in any other light than the mere cadet of an illustrious family. Perhaps we might more appropriately have allowed the mantle of VENISON to descend upon his son Kingston as leader of another division of Byerley Turks. The 'beautiful Knight of the 'Silverhair has all the honours to himself, but 'tried and found 'wanting' must be our sad, though conscientious verdict upon Manat-Arms, Ely the beautiful, and King John, whose fortune the late Mr. Blenkiron pledged himself to make. We have far more hopes of that handsome little coward, Blue Mantle, who led his contemporaries. such a weary time of it during his early two-year-old career; and as they have dipped with him pretty freely in the North, he will at least have a chance of distinction, ALARM has but two sorry darts in his quiver to make a mark hereafter; for Commotion stops short with the steeplechaser Disturbance, and Suspicion was sold for an old song at Alexandra Park last year. Of the BAY MIDDLETON offshoot it may truly be said, 'How are the mighty fallen!' when we see the Dutchman and Andover, his two Derby winners, failing to perpetuate their excellences in Cape Flyaway, Amsterdam, and Cramond, all of them now verging on the allotted length of days to horseflesh, and leaving behind them but a dim image of the glorious traditions with which the names of their ancestors will ever be associated in the annals of the English Turf. Turn we now to SWEETMEAT, into the channel of whose descent the main stream of Gladiator's blood has been diverted, and happily in such copious supplies as to enrich many a

region thirsting for its excellent qualities. It has been a curious family history, with the brown's early luck in the filly line-Parmesan and Sweetsauce following on a few years later, and Macaroni, Saccharometer, Carnival, and Lozenge, all begotten in his seventeenth year of blindness and neglect. Owing to Mr. Savile's 'happy thought' of breeding from Parmesan at Rufford, his perseverance has been rewarded by such excellent class horses as Favonius and Cremorne, the latter of whom stands along with his sire at a' century' fee, while the chestnut Lord of the Baron's year' (to our minds the coming 'sire of the day') finds a full list at Mentmore at a more moderate figure than his successor in Derby honours. Macaroni keeps up a well-deserved reputation at Cobham (where we trust he may cease to be a 'hireling' next month); and from the North we hear rumours of Macgregor's popularity, and as he is cast in much the same mould as 'Mac,' he should not lack for patronage. Each day makes us regret Saccharometer's loss the more, as nearly all his stock were returned winners; and Vanderdecken appears at present to be hovering, like the coffin of Mahomet, between earthly requirements of training and the more heavenly repose of the stud-farm. Lozenge has been a wanderer since his Cambridgeshire days, and breeders have taken exception to him on account of his bull chest and slight lack of liberty before. But at Waresley he will, we hope, fare better than in Yorkshire, where he did not go down among the natives. WILD DAYRELL is the last on our list, and we may at once content ourselves with a mere passing notice of his sons Idus, Wild Moor, and Wild Oats, all of whom have yet to be judged by their fruits; but it may be whispered that they are very fond of Wild Oats at Cobham, whose manager has determined that a goodly share of his very best mares shall be at the 'big un's' disposal during the present season. The Rake has already made his mark with Scamp; but we were surprised to find, when we saw him at Doncaster, that instead of developing into the tight, compact animal of which his working life at Bedford Lodge gave such promise, he has gone the way of all the family, and run to leg' most unconscionably. Buccaneer was the only son of Wild Dayrell we can recollect as guiltless of this conformation; and though we cherish no hope of redeeming him from foreign bondage, we have such excellent representatives as Paul Jones and See-Saw still left among

The former has begun well with Corydalis, and his first batch of yearlings stamped the Finstall horse at once, and size and power are the characteristics of his stock. So highly did Lord Scarborough think of See-Saw, that he at once leased him last year for his Tickhill stud, and we hear nothing but good of his first-fruits in Yorkshire. And so we bring to a conclusion our notes on the Byerley Turk line.

THE GODOLPHIN ARABIAN.

We now arrive at the last and smallest of the three great divisions from which it is generally conceded that our racers trace their origin. MELBOURNE'S is, of course, the most important of the two sole

existing branches, and, fortunately, there is plenty of material to work upon, and ample sources to draw from, when the progeny of a single horse is taken into consideration. West Australian's early retirement across the 'streak of silver sea' was a relief rather than otherwise to those who had hoped so long and so vainly for the Whitewall prodigy to beget something as good as himself. Few ever dreamt that the oddly-made Joskin would revive the family credit through such an animal as Plebeian; and many have wondered that the Queen Mary cross, which resulted so magnificently in Blink Bonny, when Melbourne was the cover, should have failed when tried with his best son. Young Melbourne has been singularly unlucky in having just missed two Derbys with General Peel and Pell Mell; while The Earl was not allowed to represent him either at Epsom or Doncaster. The General has failed most lamentably to sustain his ancestral reputation; while Pell Mell is hardly like to become a violent public fancy just yet, though he may do Lord Calthorpe and his friends excellent service as a country regenerator.' The Earl has done fairly well, considering the infirmity which marred his earlier efforts, and we shall hope to hear of him taking more kindly to his business as years go on; for we should regret to lose so characteristic a representative of the family, and one whose public career was full of merit. Brother to Strafford has hardly fulfilled as yet the prognostication of the few staunch supporters of the Glasgow blood left among us; but we do not yet despair of the late eccentric Earl's gigantic brood doing good service to their country at no very distant date. Arthur Wellesley enjoys a hale and green old age; and his reputation is safe enough in the keeping of Royal Rake and Mornington, both racehorses of more than average merit. Oulston is so grandly bred that his failure of high-class issue is sadly to be deplored; but we wish Mr. Pishey Snaith all manner of luck with Benvoglio, who, we hear, has captivated all Boston, and that, too, coming after Warrior, whom the old man always looked upon as the apple of his eye. The young Knights of the Garter are just coming into bloom, and Prime Minister could have no worthier defender of his rights than the doughty brown at Moorlands. Mentmore, who has succeeded fairly enough in his quiet way, and who combines the Melbourne and Defence strains, is likely enough to be succeeded by Syrian when he gets tired of winning at Shrewsbury; and this brings us to the JERRYS, a tribe well-nigh fallen into abeyance, and hanging by a very slender thread to the possibility of existence in the next generation. The much-belauded Knight of Kars must henceforth confine his attention to half-breds; and if mésalliances of this kind can be managed so as to result in such excellent specimens as The Colonel, the steeplechasing world need not complain. Promised Land has been rather mismanaged and abused during his early career at the Diss Agapemone; but there is time for amendment during his few remaining years of stud-life, if he can only be favoured with a few fair-class mares. Of Sundeelah we have great hopes, and, having overlooked him 'in another place,' it gives us all the more

pleasure to make the amende here, and to express a wish that he may bid the wonted fires of his family live again even in their ashes, 'revivify the flame, and bid it burn afresh.'

Thus we have traced, if not to their fountain heads, at least to sufficiently distinctive origins, the sources of blood available for the use of breeders at the present time. It will be easy to alter or supplement the tables set forth in a former portion of this article so as to render them reliable records for some years to come, and readers interested in such pursuits can work out for themselves the various phases of rise or fall in different families comprised under the three separate divisions. We wish it distinctly to be understood that we lay no claim to any originality of idea or arrangement, but the tables are at any rate sufficiently comprehensive for those who merely care to dip their wing in passing over the waters of breeding lore, greatly as they lack the minuteness of research and detail required by those who would dive deeper into the subject. We speak advisedly when we assert that even among those professing to be high-priests of the mysteries of the Stud Book,' there exists a lamentable amount of ignorance in the theory of breeding, while their practice partakes far too much of the rule-of-thumb' character. Into controversies we have not deemed it advisable to plunge, and we trust to have avoided giving offence, by a fair and impartial exposition of our tabular statement. This fact we have at any rate satisfactorily established, that, after eliminating the questionable' element, we are left with well-nigh one hundred and fifty animals doing, popularly speaking, a good trade; and we cannot doubt that this number is amply sufficient to supply the annual requirements of the Turf, without any fear of overtaxing our resources. And there is still a very large margin left for conducting experiments in breeding as proposed by Lord Calthorpe, whose ideas anent widening our area of production, and extending the benefits of suitable blood to hitherto barren districts, we hope soon to see taking a more definite shape.

AMPHION.

HOW MR. T. HALL'S FORTUNE WAS MADE.

It is not often we hear of a fortune made on the Turf by backing horses, but a lucky man occasionally, or perhaps we should say a clever one, achieves the feat. One of these favourites of fortune was Mr. Tom Hall of Dewchester, and if we relate the way in which he did it, perchance the recital may prove neither uninteresting nor uninstructive. But let us just make the acquaintance of Mr. Hall himself, and take a look at him as he lays down a copy the 'Sporting Gazette,' which, to judge by his countenance, he has scanned with no small degree of satisfaction. Had a stranger, on first meeting him, remarked that Mr. Hall looked like a shrewd man, he would undoubtedly have been right. Mr. Hall was a shrewd man—a remarkably shrewd man. Some have expressed an opinion