THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 191 



Charles II horse-racing appears to have been 

 rapidly growing into favor as .an amusement 

 and recreation among the English people; and 

 from that time until the present contests for 

 supremacy upon the turf have stirred the Brit- 

 ish heart as no other amusement has ever done. 

 To the constant growth and popularity of this 

 sport, which for more than two hundred years 

 has been regarded as the national amusement 

 of that country, are we indebted for persistence 

 in a course of breeding which has given us this 

 race of horses so pre-eminently distinguished 

 throughout the world for speed and endurance 

 upon the race-course; and which, on account of 

 the great care taken in their breeding, and their 

 consequent purity of lineage, were the first race 

 of animals to which the term thoroughbred was 

 applied. 



The foundation upon which this now well- 

 established breed was built was a promiscuous 

 mingling of the horses of the Island of Great 

 Britain-i-first with the larger races of Europe, 

 especially of Normandy, Flanders, and Ger- 

 many, and subsequently with the lighter, more 

 agile and graceful horses of Spain, which were 

 tliemselves almost identical with the Barbs on 

 the other side of the Mediterranean. Frequent 

 importations were also made direct from Egypt, 

 Morocco, and Tunis, and likewise from Arabia 

 and various parts of Turkey, until this Oriental 



