70 THE HORSE 



other natural advantages, the fine breed was produced which we now 

 possess. The Duke of Newcastle in his advice to breeders, after describing 

 the sort of mare suitable to breed race-horses, says : " Your stallion by 

 any means must be a Barb, and somewhat of the shape that I have 

 described the mare to be of. For a Barb that is a jade will get a better 

 running horse than the best running horse in England : as Sir John 

 Fen wick told me, who had more experience in running horses than any 

 man in England. For he had more rare running horses than any man in 

 all England beside, and the most part of all the famous running horses in 

 England that ran one against another were of his race and breed. Some 

 commend the Turk very much for a stallion to breed running horses, but 

 they are so scarce and rare that I can give no judgment of them, and there- 

 fore I advise you to the Barb, which I believe is much the better horse to 

 breed running horses." 



IN THIS PASSAGE it is clearly established that the mare used for breeding 

 race-horses in the times I am alluding to was not necessarily of Eastern 

 blood, for he says your stallion must be a Barb ; but though minutely 

 describing the make and shape of the mare, and that as well as the most 

 skilful breeder of the present day, he does not place any limitation on her 

 breeding. Indeed, I believe that the use of the Spanish, mixed, perhaps, 

 with native English blood in the mare, was the real cause of the success 

 which attended the cross with the Barb ; the mare being of greater size 

 and stride than the horse, and giving those qualities to the produce, while 

 the horse brought out the original strain of Eastern blood, which possessed 

 the wind and endurance so peculiar to it. We may, therefore, conclude 

 that the origin of the thoroughbred horse of the present day is to be laid in 

 the following strains. 



ORIGIN OF THE THOROUGHBRED HORSE 



1. Native mares used for racing, and bred from Spanish and English strains, the former 



most probably descended from the Barbs of Morocco. 



2. Markham's Arabian, imported in the time of James the First, but proved to be good 



for nothing, and most probably there is now not the slightest strain of his blood 

 extant. 



3. Place's White Turk, extensively used, and to him most of our best horses can be traced 



through Matchem. 



4. The Three Turks brought over from the siege of Vienna in 1684. 



5. TJie Royal Mares, imported by Charles the Second, who sent his Master of the Horse 



to the Levant specially to procure them. These also are mentioned in all the best 

 pedigrees. 



VARIOUS OTHER HORSES AND MARES are mentioned in the early pedigrees 

 between the times of Charles II. and James II., when the Byerley Turk 

 makes his appearance. Of these we have no exact record, either as to the 

 date of their importation or the country from which they came, so that 

 all that can be done is to enumerate them. They are Alcock's Arab, the 

 Morocco Barb, D'Arcy's Yellow Turk, the White D'Arcy Turk, Leedes 

 Arab, the Brownlow Arab, Harper's Arab, Pullen's Chestnut Arab, Honey- 

 wood's White Arab, the old Bald Peg Arab, and the Arab sire of Make- 

 less. Most of these occur in our best pedigrees, but the two D'Arcy Turks, 

 as we shall hereafter find, are particularly conspicuous there. 



