the poor fellow did in trembling, believing that his Imperial mistress was probably on her road to Siberia. Shortly afterwards a horseman appeared at full speed, who turned out to be her lover Gregory, and he took charge of the cortége, which he conducted triumphantly through the streets of St. Petersburg. Thus, says Rulhière, pour régner despotiquement sur le plus 'vaste empire du monde arrive Catherine entre sept et huit 'heures du matin, partie sur la foi d'un soldat, conduite par son 'amant, accompagnée de sa femme de chambre, et de son 'coiffeur.'

The services of Alexis, which were enhanced a few days later by the part he took in the despatch of the unfortunate Emperor, did not go long unrewarded. Created Count by the Empress, like all the brothers of Gregory Orloff, Alexis was immediately placed in high and lucrative appointments. On the declaration of war against the Turks in 1772, Catherine committed to him the command of the Russian fleet, and with the assistance of our countryman, Admiral Elphinstone, he obtained a signal victory over the Turks. Catherine, in one of her letters to Voltaire, describes the chivalrous conduct of Alexis to the family of the Pacha commodore, which he had captured; and the Pacha, to evince his gratitude, soon after presented to Count Alexis the celebrated Barb Smetanska, progenitor of the two celebrated Orloff breeds, and whose skeleton is reverently preserved in the Orloff Museum to this day.

Count Alexis commenced his stud in 1770, and Russian horse-breeders give the following list as the first occupants of his stable:

Smetanska, from a Danish mare, got Volcan, who was the sire of Barss, out of a Dutch mare. Barss exhibited extraordinary trotting powers; and all the modern trotters of Russia trace their lineage up to him, and to daughters of Smetanska out of English and Arab mares. Count Orloff also obtained from England two sons of Eclipse, two sons of High Flyer, and the winners of the St. Leger in 1792, and of the Derby in 1794, Tartar and Daedalus, besides many others.

The race of trotters thus produced became a distinct type

in about thirty years, and curiously enough since that period all attempts to improve the breed by fresh blood, whether Arab, English, French, or Dutch, have failed. Count Alexis, like the late Lord Glasgow, and many breeders of horses, was most unwilling to sell any of his best sires; and at his death in 1808, he provided by his will that none should be disposed of. It was not till 1845 that the prohibition was removed, when Government bought from his daughter and heiress the Krenowaya stud. And now it is calculated that there are no fewer than sixteen hundred private studs in Russia, with nearly 6,000 stallions and upwards of 50,000 mares, from whom the Orloff trotters are produced.

The trotting performances of these animals are very remarkable, and their stoutness is equal to their speed. Like the American trotter, the Orloff horse does not appear to gain the perfection of his powers till he is eight or nine years old, which seems to show that trotting is more of an artificial pace in the horse than the gallop. The French stud officers, who attended the horse exhibition of Russia in 1869, found that these animals were selling at from 1207. to 280l. a-piece, which it must be confessed are very remunerative prices to Russian country-gentlemen. It does not appear, however, that these celebrated trotters at all come up to the mark which is required for a first-class equipage either in London or Paris. Besides the Orloff trotters, the Orloff nags or saddle-horses are equally celebrated. These also descend from Smetanska, and from another barb called Sultan, crossed with English and Anglo-Arab mares. According to Russian writers, they combine the good qualities of both their parents; and without equalling their English progenitors in speed, they exceed them in beauty, soundness, docility, and aptitude for all military purposes. Like the trotters, they maintain a distinct character, and every attempt to introduce fresh doses of English or Arab blood has failed signally.

At the great exhibition of horses, however, in 1869, at St. Petersburg, it was the general opinion that the Orloff breeds had very much degenerated.

In addition to the private studs above enumerated, the Russian Government, like indeed all the Governments of the Continent, maintain large studs at the charges of the State; and some idea of the horse resources of the empire may be gained from it being found necessary to divide into fourteen classes the animals brought forward to compete for prizes at the annual exhibitions.

The list is curious:

1. Thoroughbreds, English and Arab.

2. Saddle-horses, half-bred.

3. Orloff trotters.

4. Carriage-horses.

5. Carabaghs. Saddle-horses crossed from Arabs and

Trouchmens.

6. Trouchmens. A fine breed from Central Asia, much resembling the Arab.

7. Horses from the Don. The well-known irregular cavalry horse of the Cossack.

8. Cart-horses.

9. Bitugs.

10. Finlanders.

11. Smouds.

12. Baschkines,

13. Ponies.

14. Horses from the Caucasus.

The five last classes comprised animals, however, too small and insignificant to be of any national importance.

Next to Russia in quantity, superior possibly in quality, comes the empire kingdom of Austro-Hungary. Hungary alone produces sufficient suitable horses to supply all the cavalry of Europe; and the efforts of the Government to encourage the breed of horses are well backed by the Esterhazys, the Palfys, the Sinas, and other noblemen who maintain private studs, some of them containing five hundred horses.

The principal government stud in Austria is at Lipitza, which is devoted entirely to the breeding of a race of pure Spanish blood, and of a cross between Spanish and Arab horses. But the most noteworthy establishment is that at Kladrup, in Bohemia-the private stud of the Emperor. It contains upwards of four hundred horses, and the personnel, including an English trainer, consists of ninety-eight persons. His Majesty breeds for the turf, and amongst other sires he possesses the celebrated horses Fandango and Blue Jacket, the latter of whom is very well spoken of. Every thing is conducted with imperial magnificence-loose boxes, large paddocks, hospitals for horses, hospitals for men, immense stables 250 feet square, in the quadrangle of which the colts run loose all the winter. Unfortunately, as with most of the stud farms, or rather stud domains, of Germany, the pasturage is very poor, and its want of succulence is visible in the young stock. The most notable product of the stud is a Spanish breed that was introduced by Charles V., and has been preserved pure for three hundred years. They are all black or

white, and are used on occasions of State, like the creamcoloured Hanoverians of her Majesty, for the royal equipages. It must, however, be confessed that they are a sorry lot, with frightful heads, drooping quarters, and stilted legs-their good front action in no way compensating for their other defects.

But it is in Hungary that the Government studs are seen to most advantage, and of these the establishment at Mezöhegyes and Kisber are especially remarkable.

The former stud occupies an immense domain of nearly 45,000 acres, and is exceptional in possessing excellent herbage. No fewer than 2,500 horses are maintained here; and for breeding purposes thirty-five stallions are kept, thoroughbreds, Arabs, Norfolk trotters, Normans, and stud-bred horses. Here, however, as elsewhere, improvements in agriculture have led to the diminution of horse-breeding. The stock some years ago at this stud consisted of 7,500 animals; but everywhere on the Continent one hears the same remark so often made in England, that it is more profitable to breed a sheep or a bullock than a horse.

The Kisber stud is devoted entirely to English thoroughbred and half-bred stock, and contains over six hundred animals. Amongst the thoroughbred sires may be seen Buccaneer, Daniel O'Rourke, Ostregor, Bois Roussel; and there are between two and three hundred English and Irish mares, who for the most part have been extremely well selected. The chief point of interest in this stud is that in selecting the best models of thoroughbred blood to breed from; and in aiming at a combination of the three great qualities of substance, speed, and endurance, none but sound animals, uninjured by early struggles on the turf, have been employed.

The other great State stud in Hungary is at Babolna, where Arabs only are bred; and formerly this breed enjoyed quite a European reputation. But whether from the poor soil which environs the stud domain which has told upon the produce, or from other causes, the breed has undoubtedly deteriorated, and it now offers little worthy of remark. The stud consists of 615 horses.

When we leave the great horse-producing countries of Eastern Europe, and approach further west, we shall find a very different state of things. Up to the present century the two great military Powers, Prussia and France, depended almost entirely on importation for the supply of their cavalry, even in times of peace. During ten years of the reign of Louis XIV. upwards of four millions sterling were expended by France in the purchase of foreign horses. And although Government

studs were established in 1717, it appears that so late as 1788 one-half of the French cavalry was mounted on animals supplied chiefly from Denmark, Holstein, and Oldenburg. So also in Prussia, when Frederick the Great came to the throne in 1740, the greater part of his cavalry were mounted on Polish horses, and on the produce of Mecklenburgh, Hanover, and Denmark. But the annual demands for horses by these great military Powers are so large, that the necessity for meeting them, and the danger of depending on neighbours who may cut off the supply when war breaks out, have long engaged the notice of their statesmen. The peace establishment of France in 1850 consisted of 49,408 horses; and this force, on their average of one in seven for remounts, requires an annual supply of 7,000 animals. The peace establishment of the Prussian army in 1870 was 73,801, which on the German average of eleven per cent. for remounts, requires annually over 8,000 horses. But these numbers need to be tripled or quadrupled when war breaks out; and the losses caused by war exceed all calculation. For example, in the late Franco-Prussian war, the French estimate their loss in horses at 150,000. But a German writer states that the Prussian loss exceeded a million horses-half a million by death, and the remainder disabled by sickness or other causes. Figures like these cannot fail to rouse the attention of thoughtful politicians, and accordingly, for many years past, the State, both in France and Prussia, have been unremitting in their efforts to encourage the breed of horses.

*

We have seen that the first establishment of Government studs in France dates from 1717, and the despotic government of that day was enabled to lay down many stringent rules as to the employment of horses, and the right of the State to seize suitable animals in the possession of private individuals. Many of these rules have remained to the present day, but the administration of the system being placed in the hands of the grands seigneurs in the different provinces during the periods of feudal supremacy, it gave rise to so many abuses that the cahiers of grievances, sent up to the National Assembly of 1789, were full of complaints as to the operation of the Stud Department. It was accordingly abolished in 1790.

In 1806, however, Napoleon I. re-established Government studs, and a most instructive account of them is given by General de Lamoricière in the work mentioned at the head of this article. The Lords' Committee report that military studs

* Ableitner's 'Vorschläge,' p. 49.