ENGLISH BREEDS 111 



the Helmsley Turk, which sired a number of valuable animals. The ad- 

 vent of the Commonwealth, and the wars which preceded it, played havoc 

 with the operations of horse-breeders in all directions. However, with the 

 Restoration, King Charles II devoted some attention to the improvement 

 of the equine race, and imported a number of mares (these may be taken 

 to have possessed Eastern blood), which were called " Royal Mares ", and 

 also a few stallions, all of which, however, became distributed when the 

 king died. His successor did not interest himself in horse-flesh, but in 

 the reign of William and Mary a good many valuable Eastern horses were 

 imported by the crown. Moreover, during the period in which King- 

 William and Queen Mary occupied the throne, one of the illustrious trio 

 of stallions, to which the modern Thoroughbred owes much of his excellence, 

 appeared upon the scene, this being the Byerley Turk, the charger of 

 Captain Byerley during the campaign in Ireland, and the horse which 

 subsequently became one of the pillars of the Stud-hook. 



Queen Anne was indisputably a racing monarch, and very soon after 

 she ascended the throne the Darley Arabian, the sire of Flying Childers, 

 became known. This horse, the second of the three great sires which 

 served the Thoroughbred so well, was presented to Mr. Darley of Butter- 

 comb, York, by his brother, and his fame at the stud surpassed even that 

 of the Leecles Arabian, the sire of Betty Leedes, the dam of the Flying 

 Childers, great horse though the Leedes Arabian was. Altogether no fewer 

 than twenty-three stallions of Eastern blood came into this country during 

 the reign of good Queen Anne, and from her period the breeding of the 

 Thoroughbred appears to have become conducted upon more scientific 

 principles than formerly. The last of the great trio of stallions to which 

 reference has just been made as being pillars of the Stud-book, was the 

 Godolphin Arabian, a dark bay horse, 15 hands, with his oft-hind heel 

 white. This animal was found in a water-cart in Paris in the year 

 1728, and was imported into this country, where he lived until 1753, 

 his death being universally lamented, and by none more than by his 

 favourite cat, which followed him to his grave, sat disconsolately upon 

 his remains as the preparations were made for lowering him into it, and 

 then disappeared mysteriously never to be seen again. At least so the 

 story goes. King George I and his successor displayed no interest in 

 the development of the Thoroughbred; but the latter's son, the Duke of 

 Cuml)erland, eifected much. He founded Ascot races, and got together 

 a stud at Cumberland, and another at the Isle of Dogs, where some say 

 the great Eclipse was foaled, though doubts are expressed in other quarters, 

 regarding the accuracy of this contention. Since the time of the Duke 

 of Cumberland, the history of the Thoroughbred horse is clearly traceable 



