THE IMPROVED ART OF FARRIERY. 563 



tbre-leg, and nine inches round the same part of his 

 hinder-leg." 



The Darley Arabian, standing at the head of our 

 racing pedigrees, was, according to scattered remnants 

 of tradition, a horse of good substance, finely formed, 

 inclining to the deep or blood bay, and nearly or al- 

 together fifteen hands in height. He was sent from 

 Aleppo, perhaps towards the end of queen Anne*s 

 reign, by Mr. Darley, of a sporting family in York- 

 shire, at that period a mercantile agent in the east, and 

 belonging to a hunting club at Aleppo, where he made 

 interest to purchase this horse, doubtless, from all 

 concurring circumstances of evidence, a real Courser 

 of the Desert, and of the ancient and pure blood. He 

 was kept by Mr. Darley as a private stallion, covering 

 very few mares but those of his proprietor : indeed as 

 Arabians had been long out of repute in the English 

 breeding studs, such consequence was to be expected, 

 and a variety of the best bred mares of the country 

 were not annually poured in upon him, as afterwards, in 

 consequence of his great success, upon the Godol- 

 phin Arabian. His first get, however, was a true and 

 successful racer ; and from this Arabian have des- 

 cended the speediest and largest coursers hat ever 

 outstripped the winds, in striding and springing over 

 the earth. Flying Childers and Eclipse, the swiftest 

 of quadrupeds, were the son and great grandson of 

 this stallion, from which also, through Childers and 

 Blaze, descended Sampson, the most powerful horse 

 which ever raced, whether before or since his time ; 

 of first-rate speed as a racer, and in form entitled to 

 equal pre-eminence as a hunter, hack, or coach-horse. 

 The Darley Arabian was the sire of Flying, or the 

 Devonshire Childers, Bleeding or Bartlet's Childers, 

 Almanzor. Whitelegs, Cupid, Brisk, Daedalus, Skip- 



