STUD BOOK. 49 



must be observed that her dam was by a Persian horse; 

 blood which does not appear to have been valued even in 

 thoss early days. It was reserved for Mr. Darley to intro- 

 duce a horse which became a worthy progenitor of the best 

 blood of the present day. This gentleman had always 

 thought that the Arabian purchased from Mr. Markham had 

 not been fairly treated, and, anxious to renew the experi- 

 ment, he commissioned his brother, then in the East, to pro- 

 cure another Arabian of promise and send him to England. 

 The commission was carefully executed, and a horse was met 

 with which was bred in the desert. On his arrival the beauty 

 of his symmetry was immediately recognized, for it em- 

 braced every point that could be desired in a race-horse. 

 From this horse is descended a vast number of the most cele- 

 brated racers, and at the present period there is scarce!} 

 one which does not possess some of his blood. The most 

 celebrated of his immediate offspring were the Devonshire 

 or Flying Childers, and Bartletts Childers, a horse which 

 was never trained, but his superiority in the stud is well 

 known. The wonderful tales which have been related con- 

 cerning Flying Childers, like the snowball, have increased in 

 their progress, therefore a brief digression is necessary to 

 unfold these romantic conceptions. It is related that he 

 gave Fox twelve pounds over the Beacon course at New- 

 market, and beat him a quarter of a mile in a trial. Every 

 racing man would naturally inquire if Fox could not have 

 got nearer at the end, and few indeed place much reliance 

 on trials without substantial evidence to corroborate reports. 

 It is also said that he ran a trial against Almanzor and the 

 Duke of Rutland's Brown Betty, nine stone two pounds each, 

 over the round course at Newmarket, three miles six fur- 

 longs and ninety-three yards, which distance, according to 

 many accounts in print, "he ran in six minutes and forty 

 seconds, to perform which he must have moved at the rate of 

 eigJity-two fed and a-half in one second of time, or nearly at 

 ;he rate of one mile in a minute" The inaccuracy of this is 

 patent. If a horse moved at the rate described, he would 

 *et over the distance in a trifle less than four minutes and a 

 lalf. No horse that ever was foaled ever went at the pace 

 spoken of. The rate of fifty feet in a second is very great, 

 and more than the average pace required to run the distance 

 of the Beacon course, four miles one furlong and one hun- 

 dred and thirty yards, in seven minutes and a half, which 

 Childers is also reported to have done. After all the high- 

 lown panegyrics concerning the racing exploits of this horse, 



