THE DOMESTIC HORSE. 169 



The Horse** The quality of speed for which the horse is 

 Speed. so justly esteemed has been the subject of ex- 

 tensive culture in which the Arabian horse has contributed 

 no mean share. "Some of the horses first brought from 

 Arabia having been by no means celebrated," says Captain 

 Brown, "the breed had fallen into disrepute, till the descendants 

 of one procured by Mr. Darley from the deserts, and on 

 that account called the Darley Arabian, having borne away 

 the palm for fleetness from all others, turned the tide of 

 fashion in favour of that breed. Yet it is only the progeny 

 of the Arabian horses that excels. The English race-horses 

 are equal, if not superior, to all other coursers. As the ex- 

 traordinary swiftness of the horse has been most signally 

 displayed in the English race-course, and can also be there 

 most precisely measured, we cannot omit the notice of some 

 of the most remarkable of our racers. The most celebrated 

 of these and indeed the fleetest horse that ever was bred 

 in the world was Flying Childers, got by the Darley Arabian. 

 What Achilles was among warriors, and Caesar among con- 

 querors, such was Childers among horses, without an equal 

 and without a rival. He ran against the most famous horses 

 of his age, and was always victorious. He has been known 

 to move at the rate of nearly a mile in the minute. Next 

 to Childers, in fame and fleetness, is Eclipse, so called from 

 having been foaled during the great eclipse of 1764. This 

 horse likewise was never beaten : one contemporary rival alone 

 was supposed to exist, Mr. Shaftoe's horse Gold finder, but 

 Goldfinder broke down the October before the proposed 

 competition. Eclipse's rate of going was 47 feet in the second. 

 Childers had a rate of 49. One hundred to one were offered 

 on Eclipse against the most famous racers of his day. Mr. 

 O'Kelly purchased him for sixteen hundred and fifty guineas, 

 and cleared by him twenty-five thousand pounds. He had 

 a vast stride, never horse threw his haunches below him 

 with more vigour or effect ; and his hind legs were so spread 



