THE HOUSE HISTORY. 407 



blood of the Darley and Godolphin both unite in that of the 

 celebrated horse Eclipse, whose superiority was such that his 

 owner, O'Kelly, placed the wager on " Eclipse first, and the rest 

 nowhere ;" or, in other words, the roarer distanced the field. 

 These two horses Darley Arabian, from the desert of Palmyra, 

 and the barb, called Godolphin Arabian made such a marked im- 

 provement on the English horses of their day that any history 

 of English horses would be most defective without notice of 

 them. I will quote from Stonehenge: 



" Pure Arabs are considerably smaller than our modern 

 thorough-breds, seldom exceeding fourteen hands, two inches in 

 height. The head is remarkable for the width across the fore- 

 head, which is also full and square, while the muzzle is finer, the 

 face more hollowed out, and the jaws more fully developed in 

 their proportions than any other breed with which we are 

 acquainted. The eye is full and soft, yet sparkling with anima- 

 tion at the least excitement ; the ear is small ; the neck arched ; 

 the shoulders oblique, but muscular; the withers moderately high 

 and thin ; the chest rather light in girth, but the back ribs rather 

 deep in proportion ; and the hips, though narrow, well united to 

 the back by a rounded mass of powerful muscles; the croup is 

 high, and the tail set on with a considerable arch; the bones of 

 the leg are large in proportion to the size, and the tendons full 

 and free, the suspensory ligaments being particularly clean and 

 strong ; the hocks are large and free both from curbs and spav- 

 ins ; and, lastly, the feet, though small, are sound, and capable 

 of bearing an amount of battering which few well-bred English 

 horses can sustain. From the full development of the brain in 

 this breed, it might be expected, a priori, that the amount of 

 intelligence and courage possessed by them would be far above 

 the average ; and such is the result of -experience." 



They are generally docile, and have "fine tempers." If, 

 however, they are highly fed, and deprived of the necessary 

 amount of exercise and cruelly treated, their nervous system 

 is so sensitive that they rebel, and when they fight they per- 

 severe to the death. " The colors of the Arabian horse are 

 mostly bay, chestnut, and gray, but occasionally black. The skin 



