132 HISTORY OF THE 



and often witnesses, of the performances they re- 

 cord, in whose day the event was a matter of 

 public notoriety ; therefore had they advanced be- 

 yond the bounds of truth, there can be no doubt 

 but that denials, as public as their recorded facts, 

 would have been made, and handed down to us. 

 Wm. Pick of York, in his Historical and Annual 

 Racing Calendar published in 1786, gives the ac- 

 count we have quoted of the wonderful perform- 

 ances of Flying Childers, without insinuating that 

 the slightest doubt existed in his time of their 

 having taken place. Now as Childers ran as late 

 as 1723, and did not die till 1741, Mr. Pick, if not 

 himself cotemporary with Childers (of which we have 

 little doubt,) had most certainly the opportunity of 

 conversing with many who had witnessed the per- 

 formances of that wonderful racer ; and it would 

 appear, was quite convinced that their accounts 

 were correct. Of the performances of Eclipse we 

 have still more perfect evidence, as they are handed 

 down to us direct from several who had actually 

 witnessed them, noblemen and gentlemen of the 

 highest rank, judges of racing, and utterly incapable 

 of mistating facts. Accordingly Wm. Pick, Sain- 

 bel, with several other writers, in their works pub- 

 lished soon after the death of Eclipse, only mention 

 these performances as stated to them by the above 

 mentioned leading men en the Turf. Another 

 argument in favor of our position may be adduced 



