DETERIORATION IS FROM THE ARAB 89 



Arabian, and the Godolphin Arabian, which, in other 

 words, is what Mr. WilHam Day says. 



The writer of the article, while giving credit to 

 the native mares crossed from time to time, shows 

 that the powers of endurance and elegant shape 

 of the English thoroughbred are inherited from 

 Eastern horses, most of which were of a low stature. 

 And an account of American trotting horses in the 

 same article shows that there is Arab blood in all the 

 best of these animals, as I shall show by-and-by on 

 the authority of Americans. 



Shakespeare was aware of the fame of the Arab. 

 In 'Richard II.' the groom tells the King 'When 

 Bolingbroke rode on roan Barbary.' Bolingbroke 

 was a soldier, and knew. If he had preferred a 

 horse for its hugeness, or only because it could go 

 very fast for a few furlongs, Shakespeare would not 

 have made him ride a Barb. Or if that were only 

 the imagination of the poet, it was founded in Shake- 

 speare's knowledge of history and his assurance that 

 Bolingbroke would have ridden a Barb if he could 

 have got one. He was careful not to mount Boling- 

 broke on a donkey. 



A gentleman of racing proclivities recently men- 

 tioned to me, in discussing this question, that on 

 looking into the pedigree of Carbine, as far as it 

 was possible to trace it back, he found that it 

 was so full of Arab blood as to be almost entirely 

 Arab, a remark which induced me to look up the 

 pedigree of some of the old sires, and I find 



