MEASUREMENT OF ECLIPSE. 69 
Heron, foaled in 1758, was a rich bay, and of very fine symmetry and 
size. He was bred by the Duke of Cumberland, and sold to Sir John 
Moore at his death. After along series of successes at Newmarket, he 
burst a bloodvessel in running for a subscription-purse at York, in 1766, 
after which he was never quite in his previous form, and was put to the 
stud, commencing with 10 guineas, in 1768, and ending with 25 guineas, 
from 1774 to his death, which occurred in 1780. His stock won upwards 
of 201,0002. besides many hogsheads of claret, whips, cups, &c. 
Ecriese (so named from being foaled in the year 1764, when there was 
an eclipse of the sun) was a chestnut horse, like Herod bred by the Duke 
of Cumberland, and at his decease sold to Mr. Henry Wildman, a Smith- 
field salesman, who kept racehorses at Mickleham, near Epsom. Prior to 
the sale he must have had some private intelligence of the merits of the 
horse, for we are told that when he arrived there in ample time, according 
to the terms of the advertisement, the sale had been effected, but, claiming 
that the lots already knocked down should be resold, the result was that 
he purchased Eclipse for 75 guineas. In a short time he sold a moiety to 
Colonel O’Kelly for 650 guineas, and in the following year the other 
moiety for 1,100 guineas. In May, 1769, when five years old, Eclipse won 
500. at Epsom, and it was on the second heat of this unimportant race that 
Colonel O'Kelly is said to have won a very large sum of money, by laying 
that he placed all the five horses engaged in it. Such a feat is so impro- 
bable according te the laws of chance, that his offer was immediately taken 
at much less than the legitimate odds, and on being called on to declare, 
he complied with the demand by placing “ Eclipse first and the rest no- 
where,” winning his bet by the great speed of his horse. During the two 
seasons which he was on the turf he won an immense number of 
stakes for Colonel O’Kelly, but at last his extraordinary powers were so 
generally admitted that no owner would enter a horse against him, and he 
was obliged to retire, never having been beaten or paid forfeit. Among 
his victories are eleven King’s plates, the weights for all but one of which 
were twelve stone, which now-a-days would be considered a crusher, even 
for a mile or a mile and a half. He covered at Clay Hill, near Epsom, 
his price being at first fixed at fifty guineas, but in 1772 it was reduced 
to the more reasonable sum of twenty-five guineas, fluctuating between 
which and thirty guineas he continued at the service of the public till 
1789, when he died. He was so lame in his feet, that on being removed 
from Epsom to Cannons in Middlesex, he was obliged to be placed in a 
caravan on four wheels, and this was the first instance in which a van was 
used for this purpose, though now so commonly employed. The pro- 
portions of Eclipse have been minutely described by St. Bel, the 
founder of the school which afterwards became the College of Veterinary 
Surgeons, London. He took the admeasurements during life, but verified 
them after death, and they are, therefore, as reliable as any such can 
possibly be, but it must be remembered that they were taken when he was 
twenty-four years old. 
ST. BEL’S MEASUREMENT OF ECLIPSE. 
The length of the head of the horse is supposed to be divided into twenty-two equal 
parts, which are the common measure for every part of the body. 
Three heads and thirteen parts will give the height of the horse from the foretop to 
the ground. 
Three heads from the withers to the ground. 
Three heads from the rump to the ground. 
Three heads and three parts, the whole length of the body, from the most prominent 
part of the chest to the extremity of the buttocks, 
