S04 
are also useful as an unexceptionable 
model on which to calculate speed in 
horses ; and, if there be any increase or 
falling-off of boné in Jength or size, in 
the future breeds of our race-horses, 
it can be readily ascertained, and in 
what degree, by his remains. They 
also can alone afford us a knowledge 
of the peculiar make and’ tournure 
which the bones of this extraordinary 
animal possess, and which no descrip- 
tion or pencil, however guided, could 
fully give. 
The following is a brief outline of 
some of the circumstances of his life, 
and an enumeration of his brilliant 
exploits. 
He was foaled in Sussex, in the stud 
ef the Duke of Cumberland, our late 
revered king’s uncle, and the hero of 
Culloden; his sire was Marsk, his 
grandsire Squirt ; his great grandsire 
Bartlett’s Childers, which was {full 
brother* to Flying Childers of Devon- 
shire, supposed to have been the 
fleetest horse, for a moderate weight 
and distance, that ever took the field. 
These Childers breed can be readily 
traced in their descentfrom the Darley 
Arabian, imported into this country 
from Aleppo by this spirited merchant, 
early in the reign of Queen Anne, and 
which came over to England certifi- 
cated with all the ceremony due to the 
very best blood of the Desert. 
On the side of his dam he was de- 
scended of Spiletta, got by Regulus, 
which was the son of the GodoJphin 
Arabian. 
On the death of the Duke of Cum- 
berland, his stud in Sussex was sold 
off; and the Eclipse colt, then a year- 
ling, was purchased by a sporting 
Smithfield salesman, for the sum of 
seventy-five guineas. An incident 
attended his sale which is worth re- 
jating, as his life might have been in 
other hands of perhaps quite another 
description, and with none of that 
splendor which followed him, so much 
depends upon the characters of men as 
well as of the things themselves. Mr. 
Wildman, (for that was the name of 
this Smithfield amateur,) having the 
young colt in view, arrived at the place 
of sale some minutes after the auction 
had commenced, and the Eclipse colt, 
being placed among the early lots, had 
been actually knocked down for se- 
venty guineas, and sold. This spirited 
* By full brother is understood by the 
same mare and horse. 
History of the celebrated Race-horse, Eclipse. 
“whip or spur, or much directing; the ; 
[May 1, 
lover of the sport was not however to 
be daunted by this untoward circum- 
stance from an attempt to gain him ; 
and, referring immediately to his stop- 
watch, of trusty workmanship, he de- 
clared in the face of the company and 
of the auctioneer, that the time the 
bills had stated for the commencement 
of the sale had not then arrived, and 
insisted boldly that every lot should be 
put up again. The auctioneer, well 
knowing the stiffness of his man, and 
unable to disprove the allegation, 
thought proper to comply ; and to save 
the trouble and time of the company, it 
was finally agreed that such lots as he 
required should be put up again; and 
Eclipse was once more put up, and 
a second time knocked down at. the 
sum of seventy-five guineas, being an 
advance of five on his former sale. 
This remarkable horse was also not 
without portentous events on the day 
of his birth, for he was foaled on the 
very day of the great eclipse of the sun, 
on the Ist of April, 1764, and hence 
he very naturally acquired his name, 
which from this accidental cireum- 
stance is now become in our Janguage 
almost synonymous to swiftness and 
speed; as coaches, ships, steam-boats, 
and all other sorts of vehicles, hay- 
ing any distinguishing pretensions to 
velocity, are all now called Eclipses, 
arising out of this casual circumstance. 
After the peried of his sale, he was 
kept chiefly in the neighbourhood of 
Epsom ; and, from some cause or other 
not now exactly known, was not 
brought into public notice till he had 
attained his fifth year, which, no 
question, was attended with many 
advantages to his general strength and 
the state of his feet; and, for the first 
time, he was started on the scented 
turf of Epsom Downs, on May 3, 
1769: he was matched against some 
reputed clever horses ; Gower, Chance, 
Trial, and Plume, were his opponents ; 
and he distanced them every one, win- 
ning for his owner a considerable sum 
of money. John Oakley had the ho- 
nour of riding him on this occasion, 
and in general or perhaps always after- 
wards, and to whom it is said this 
generous animal was much attached ; 
but, although this jockey was deemed a 
skilful and powerful man, yet thisbrave 
animal did not require, they tell us, 
much of the aids of jockeyship, or | 
would permit in any way the.use of the 
sole business of the rider was to a 
is 
