BREEDING. 17 



guinea each, but upon the produdon of 

 Eclipse, (a horfe whofe almoft uiiprece- 

 dented quahfications and performances will 

 in all probability never be forgotten) his 

 price was enhanced to fifty guineas, and 

 that only for a certain number in the feafon, 

 out of which, (though much advanced in 

 years) he produced many winners, when 

 the feledlion of mares became fo much in 

 his favour. 



Such fludtuation of popularity ftill de- 

 pends upon the uncertainty of events, an 

 additional proof of which delerves to be 

 recorded as worthy the attention of fportf- 

 men, to whom it is not very generally known, 

 though too well authenticated to admit even 

 a Ihadow of doubt, and reduces to a certainty 

 the former obfervation, that Chance alone 

 is often entitled to the merit fo conftantly 

 attributed to judgment and penetration. 



The dam of Eclipfe having been covered 

 in that feafon by both Shakespeare and 

 Marsk, it remained a matter of doubt for 

 fome days with his late Royal Highnefs the 

 Duke of Cumberland and his ftud groom, 



Vol. IL^ C to 



