HISTOKY OF MESSEXGEK. 223 



as he died May 8, 1785. This was while Messenger -was still on 

 the turf, and owned and controlled by Mr. Bullock for two years 

 previous to this, still no mention is made of the fact, and Mr. 

 Pratt is made to say that he sold him to the Prince of Wales, 

 while all the evidence, which must necessarily be of a negative 

 character, goes to show that the Prince of Wales never owned 

 him. Mr. Pratt was a Yorkshire man, of Askrigg, in the Xorth 

 Riding, and although he died at Newmarket we have no trace 

 of any of the family from which the dam of Messenger was said 

 to have descended ever being in his possession. Besides this, it 

 is not likely that the importer of Messenger got a certificate from 

 him two years after his death. 



The different representations that have been made about Mes- 

 senger's importation would fill a much larger space than would 

 be profitable. About no horse has there been so much written, 

 and about no horse has there been so little really known. His 

 character and memory have never suffered defamation, for every 

 writer was a eulogist of the most enthusiastic type, whether he 

 knew anything of his hero or not. As a specimen of the admira- 

 tion which he excited, it has been told a hundred times that 

 when the horse came cavorting down the gangplank from the 

 ship, with a groom hanging on to each side of his head, literally 

 carrying them for some distance before he could be checked, an 

 enthusiastic horseman shouted out, "There, in that horse a mil- 

 lion dollars strikes American soil/' This story has been told so 

 often, even in England, that no doubt many people believe the 

 startling prophecy was really uttered. Indeed we have heard the 

 name of the prophet, but as he was a distinguished New Yorker 

 and as debarkation took place at Philadelphia, we never have 

 been able to fully reconcile the actor with the occasion. The 

 reputed prophecy, like the reputed pedigree, seems to have been 

 an afterthought, but unlike the pedigree it proved true, whether 

 uttered or not. Some said he was imported 1785, while others 

 dribbled along through the intermediate years till 1800 was fixed 

 upon with great positiveness as the precise year. One of these 

 gentlemen, we remember very well, was entirely confident he 

 returned to England and was brought back again after a number 

 of years. Less than twenty years ago the breeding world was 

 favored with scores upon scores of this kind of teachers, not one 

 of whom knew what he was talking about. The most surprising 

 example of this kind of writing, however, is furnished by Mr. C. 



