30 BREEDING. 



tant commissions, where expense and tron-« 

 ble proved only inferior considerations : but 

 the trial afforded by time^ and experience by 

 observation y have fnlly shown the improba- 

 bihty of adding to the perfections of the true 

 English blood horses by the importation of 

 theirs. 



This rage for improvement with a cross 

 from the blood of Arabia, was near half a 

 century past Yery fashionablr/ predominant; 

 but has so gradually declined for the last 

 twenty years, that they are held in no kind 

 of estimation by any systematic sportsman or 

 breeder in the kingdom. The original ad- 

 vantage expected in the cross, was some ad- 

 dition in speed, even to our fleetest mares ; 

 this, when obtained, was totally counteracted 

 by a want oi bottom^ for, after repeated trials^ 

 the most exact and disinterested, they were 

 found incapable of keeping their rate, for 

 much more than a mile, and consequently 

 became of so little consequence to a racing 

 stud, that a short time will, in all probabi- 

 lity, render them of no other utility than to 

 constitute part of the retinue in the trium- 

 phant return of an English Nabob, or an ad- 



