me
in 1863. It is open to entire horses and to fillies of all breeds and
of all countries, three-year-olds, and of the prize, one hundred
thousand francs, half is given by the city of Paris and half by the
five great railway companies. It was the late duc de Morny who first
persuaded the municipal council and the administrations of the railways
to make this annual appropriation; ail of which, together with the
entries, a thousand francs each, goes to the winner, after deducting
ten thousand francs given to the second horse and five thousand to the
third. Last year the amount won by Nubienne, carrying fifty-three and a
half kilogrammes, was one hundred and forty-one thousand nine hundred
and seventy-five francs, and the time made was three minutes
thirty-three seconds on a track of three thousand metres--one mile
seven furlongs, or three furlongs longer than that of the Derby at
Epsom.

The fixing of Sunday for this international contest has aroused the
prejudices of the English, and has been the occasion of a long
correspondence between Admiral Rous and Viscount Daru, but the
committee on races has refused to change the day, contending, with
reason, that the French people cannot be expected to exchange their
usages for those of a foreign country. Although it is understood that
Queen Victoria has formally forbidden the prince of Wales to assist at
these profane solemnities, this interdict has not prevented the
appearance there of some of the principal personages of England, and we
have several times noticed the presence of the dukes of St. Albans,
Argyll, Beaufort and Hamilton, the marquis of Westminster and Lords
Powlett, Howard and Falmouth; though the last, be it said, is believed
to be influenced by his respect for the day in his refusal to run his
horses in France.

Those who remember the foundation of the Grand Prix will recall the
extraordinary excitement of the occasion, when the whole population of
Paris, as one of the enemies of the new system of racing said, turned
out as they would to a capital execution or the drawing of a grand
lottery or the ascension of a monster balloon: the next day the name of
the winner was in everybody's mouth, and there was but one great man in
the universe for that day at least--he who had conceived the idea of
the Grand Prix de Paris. The receipts on this occasion amounted to
eighty-one thousand francs: last year they were two hundred and forty
thousand. I subjoin a list of the