rld. The _haute gomme_--the swells, the upper ten--are
still in the provinces. They have left the sea-side, it is true--it was
time for that--but the season in the Pyrenees is not over yet, and
Luchon and Bigone will be full until the middle of September, and not
before the month is ended will Biarritz give up her pleasure-seekers.
The opening of the shooting season on the first Sunday of September has
scattered the sportsmen throughout the twenty-five or thirty departments
in which there is still left a chance of finding game. But the best
shooting is in the neighborhood of Paris, in the departments of
Seine-et-Marne and Seine-et-Oise--at Grosbois with the prince de
Wagram; at St. Germain-les-Corbeil on the estate of M. Darblay; at
Bois-Boudran with the comte de Greffuhle; or at the chateau of the baron
de Rothschild at Ferrieres; and the numerous guests of these gentlemen
may, if they are inclined, take a day to see the Omnium or the Prix
Royal Oak run between two _battues aux faisans_. The Omnium is the most
important of the handicaps: it is the French Caesarewitch, though with a
difference. The distance of the latter is two miles and two furlongs,
that of the Omnium but a mile and a half. The value of the stakes is
generally from twenty-five to thirty thousand francs. As its name would
indicate, this race, by exception to the fundamental principle of the
Jockey Club, is open to horses of every kind, without regard to
pedigree, above the age of three years. A horse that has gained a prize
of two thousand francs after the publication of the weights is
handicapped with an overweight of two kilogrammes and a half (a trifle
over five pounds); if he has gained several such, with three kilos; if
he is the winner of an eight-thousand-franc purse, he has to carry an
overweight of four kilos, or one of five kilos if he has won more than
one race of the value last mentioned. The publication of the weights
takes place at the end of June, when the betting begins. Heavy and
numerous are the wagers on this important race, and as the prospects of
the various horses entered change from time to time according to the
prizes gained and the overweights incurred, the quotation naturally
undergoes the most unlooked-for variations. A lot of money is won and
lost before the real favorites have revealed themselves; that is to say,
before the last week preceding the race. The winner of the Omnium is
hardly ever a horse of the first rank, and th