e completion of the restorations of his ancestral
chateau. Under the Empire, the property of the Orleans princes having
been confiscated, a nominal transfer of Chantilly was made to a friend
of the family. The emperor, having one day signified his wish to witness
the Derby, had the mortification on his arrival to find the reserved
stand closed against him by the prince's orders. It was necessary to
force the gate. The emperor took the hint, however, and never went to
Chantilly again.
The soil of the Forest of Fontainebleau being of the same nature as that
of the turf in the open, the alleys of the park furnish an invaluable
resource to the trainer. For this reason, since racing has come in
vogue, most of the stables have found their way to Chantilly or to its
immediate neighborhood, where one of the largest and finest alleys of
the forest, running parallel to the railway and known as the Alley of
the Lions, has been given up to their use. Thus, Chantilly, with its
Derby Day and its training-grounds, may be called at once the Epsom and
the Newmarket of France. There is hardly a horse, with the exception of
those of the comte de Lagrange and of M. Lupin, and those of Henry
Jennings, the public trainer, that is not "worked" in the Alley of the
Lions. The Societe d'Encouragement has control of the training-ground as
well as of the track, and also claims the right to keep spectators away
from the trial-gallops, so that the duc d'Aumale, whose proprietary
privileges are thus usurped, is often at war with the society. He has
stag-hunts twice a week during the winter, on Mondays and Thursdays, and
now and then on Sundays too--as he did with the grand duke of Austria on
his late visit to Chantilly--and he naturally objects to having the hunt
cut in two by the gallops over his principal avenue. He worries the
trainers to such a degree that they begin to talk of quitting Chantilly
for some more hospitable quarters. When things get to this pass the
duke, who, in his character of councillor-general, is bound to look
after the interests of his constituents, relents, and putting aside his
personal wrongs calls a parley with the stewards of the races, offers a
new prize--an object of art perhaps--or talks of enlarging the stands,
and the gage of reconciliation being accepted, peace is made to last
until some new _casus belli_ shall occur. His Royal Highness is not
forgetful of the duties of his position. When he is at Chantilly on a
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