xii Preface. 



racing is a public benefit; any pursuit which, 

 produces a similarity of taste excites in an equal 

 ratio a friendly feeling. National dislikes are 

 owing to a faulty system of education, and to the 

 monomania of religious intolerance. I therefore 

 hail the extension of the sport as a general benefit 

 to mankind, and as the medium, of a more ex- 

 tended philanthropy. But as in all subjects 

 there is a reverse, and as human institutions 

 carry within themselves the germs of their own 

 dissolution, I will not ignore the enemy which 

 always threatens our extinction, "excessive 

 gambling," or the obnoxious tendencies which 

 are transparent when large sums of money are 

 dependent upon the issue of a race. Betting on 

 a great scale frequently produces grievous results, 

 and the wholesome excitement of a fine race, or 

 the patriotic inducement of improving the breed 

 of horses, become secondary considerations. 



*' Nunc juvenem imparibus video concurrere fatis, 

 Parcarumque dies et vis inimica propinquat ' 



We have now arrived at the 13th and 14th 

 generations from the imported Barbs and Arabians ; 

 there is nothing to be compared to them for 

 speed, high courage, and stability. With a great 

 object in view for 200 years, we have attained a 



