THE KACE-HORSE. 73 



Mote than twenty years after the Darley Arabian, and when the vahie 

 of the Arabian blood Avas fally estabHshed, Lord Godolj^hin possessed a 

 beautiful but singularly-shaped horse, which he called an Arabian, but 

 which was really a Barb. His crest, lofty and arched almost to a fault, 

 will distingaiish him from every other horse. 



It will likewise be seen from the cut (p. 19), that he had a sinking 

 behind his shoulders, almost as pecviliar, and a corresponding elevation of 

 the spine towards the loins. His muzzle was uncommonly fine, his head 

 beautifully set on, his shoulders capacious, and his quarters well spread 

 out. He was bought in France, where he was actually employed in 

 drawing a cart ; and when he was afterwards presented to Lord Godolphin, 

 he was in that nobleman's stud a considerable time before his value Avas 

 discovered. It Avas not until the birth of Lath, one of the first horses of 

 that period, that his excellence began to be appreciated. He Avas then 

 styled an Arabian, and became, in even a greater degree than the Darley, 

 the founder of the modern thorough-bred horses. He died in 1753, at the 

 age of tAventy-nine. 



An intimate friendship subsisted between him and a cat, which either 

 sat on his back Avhen he was in the stable, or nestled as closely to him as 

 she could. At his death, she began to refuse her food, and pined away, 

 and died. — Mr. Holcroft gives a similar relation of the attachment betAveen 

 a race-horse and a cat, Avhich the courser would take in his mouth and 

 place in his manger and upon his back without hurting her. Chillaby, 

 called from his great ferocity the Mad Arabian, whom one only of the 

 grooms dared to approach, and who savagely tore to pieces the image of 

 a man that Avas purposely placed in his Avay, had his peculiar attachment 

 to a lamb, Avho used to emjiloy himself for many an hour in butting aAvay 

 the flies from his friend. 



Another foreign horse, Avas the Wellesley Arabian ; the very picture of 

 a beautiful vnld horse of the desert. His precise country was never 

 determined. He is evidently neither a perfect Bai"b, nor a perfect Arabian, 

 but from some neighbouring province, where both the Barb and Arabian 

 Av^ould expand to a more perfect fulness of form. This horse has been 

 erroneously selected as the pattern of a superior Arabian, and therefore 

 we have introduced him : fcAv, however, of his produce were trained who 

 can add much to his reputation. 



At the commencement of the last century, Avhen public races had been 

 established in the neighbourhood of almost every large toAvn, and Avhen 

 many of them Avere especially patronised by royalty, although there Avas 

 sufficient opportunity giA'cn for the value of the young stock to be ex- 

 hibited, or at least guessed at, the contest principally lay among the adults. 

 — The kind of contest Avhich was best calculated to try the worth of the 

 horse, and to promote the actual improvement of the breed, Avas one of 

 mingled speed and endurance. They were mostly heats for distances of 

 three or four miles. Occasionally they Avere for greater lengths, CA^en ex- 

 tending to six or eight miles ; and in one case, when the Duke of Queens- 

 berry's Dash beat Lord Barrymore's Highlander, twelve miles. This, 

 hoAveA^er, was cruel and absurd, and never established itself among the 

 best supporters of the turf. 



Four miles constituted the average distance, not only for king's plates, 

 but for simple matches ; and the horses did not sleep on their way. 

 There Avere occasionally as extraordinary bursts of speed as are noAv AAdt- 

 nessed in our mile and a half races. 



Did the horses of those days come to any extraordinary harm ? Did 

 they ruin themselves by the exertion of one day and appear no more ? 

 The anonymous Avriter of a most interesting and valuable Avork — ' A 



