COLONEL O'KELLY. 17 



fifteen. Eclipse himself died at Colonel O'Kelly's estate at Canons, 

 in Middlesex, the 28th day of February 1789, at the age of 25. He 

 had been taken there in a van drawn by two horses, his groom being 

 inside with him, and this is the first instance on record of the use 

 of what we should call a " horse-box." At his funeral ale and cake 

 were distributed to those who had attended to pay the last honours 

 to the famous horse, a custom which had been continued in the case 

 of illustrious equine heroes from the time of the Godolphin Arabian. 

 Mons. Vial de Saintbell made his fame as an anatomist by dissect- 

 ing Eclipse, whose heart was found to weigh 14lbs., a phenomenal 

 weight, but still 8lbs. less than Mr. Davis's equally immortal Her- 

 mit, and O'Kelly, who predeceased his celebrated horse, had some 

 time before his death chivalrously hired a poet to fling his last de- 

 fiance at Higliflyer and his owner. One verse, which aims at being 

 the most biting, runs thus — 



"True, o'er the tomb in ■which this favourite lies, 

 No vaunting boast appears of lineage good ; 

 Yet the turf register's bright page defies 

 The race of Herod to show better blood." 



The skeleton of Eclipse was offered for sale in 1821, the price 

 asked being 1,000 guineas, but we cannot find that any sportsman 

 was enthusiastic enough to purchase this costly relic of perhaps the 

 most famous horse that ever lived. 



And now it is time that we should return from Eclipse to his less 

 famous, but scarcely less remarkable, owner. Colonel O'Kelly's 

 splendid judgment in racing was amply proved by his carrying ofi" 

 the Derby twice, in 1781 with Young Eclipse, and in 1784 with 

 Serjeant, both sons of old Eclipse. But it was, perhaps, as a breeder 

 that he obtained greatest distinction. His two renowned stallions. 

 Volunteer and Dungannon, were in great request, and a strain of their 

 blood was anxiously sought for by all breeders of thoroughbreds 

 whereby both the gallant colonel and the turf reaped signal advantage. 

 How lucrative this business must have been may be gathered from 

 the fact that in a single year (1793) O'Kelly advertised for sale no less 

 than forty-six mares in foal, most of them by Volunteer and Dun- 

 gannon, and they fetched great prices, the Prince of Wales being an 

 extensive purchaser. By the dam of Soldier from her produce by 

 Eclipse and Dungannon he cleared £10,000, and his other mares, of 

 which he had often fifty or more in his possession, were the source of 

 immense gain to him. Whilst the mere fact that in twenty-three 

 years the winners bred by him made on the turf and at the stud 

 no less than £518,000, an enormous sum for those cautious days, 

 is sufficient to prove that O'Kelly was facile princeps among his 

 contemporaries as a breeder of blood-stock. In illustration of the 

 prices fetched by his horses, we may state that in 1775 he sold a 

 two-year-old untried Eclipse colt for 1,000 guineas, and five hundred 

 more if the animal won the first time of starting. This was con- 

 sidered in those days a gigantic price. In the year 1771, Mistress 



