256 THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE. 



abstaining from the question of chargers in war 9 

 and overlooking the fact, that in England, where 

 valuable Arabs abound, they are not as such pre- 

 ferred by riders over the thorough-bred blood-horses 

 of the land. Now, by the term blood is understood 

 the qualities produced in a horse by a superiority 

 of muscular substance, lightness, and compactness 

 of form, united with a justly proportioned shape ; 

 or a physical structure of tendon, bone, and lungs, 

 proper to afford the full effects of the mechanical 

 means of speed, when set in motion by high iner- 

 vation. When these conditions of the problem 

 are fully carried out by a judicious and persevering 

 course of breeding and education, there will be 

 beauty of form, and the blood will be adapted to 

 such purposes, within the compass of the laws of 

 nature, as were aimed at, provided recourse has 

 been had from the beginning to select the finest 

 models for the purpose. Such has been the practice 

 in England for more than a century, and it is to 

 strict adherence to these laws the British turf can 

 show troops of blood-horses unrivalled in the world, 

 equal in beauty to the noblest Arab, and superior 

 to them in stature and power : they alone have power 

 to excite the modern muse in a strain that Pindar 

 would not have disowned, as we here show, in a frag- 

 ment describing the Doncaster St. Leger race : 



" Again the thrilling signal sound 

 And off at once, with one long bound, 

 Into the speed of thought they leap, 

 Like a proud ship rushing to the deep* 



