268 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



of the beautifully shaped animal we see in the 

 modern thoroughbred. 



Probably less than fifteen hands, the Darley 

 Arabian was a dark bay descended from the race 

 the most esteemed among the Arabs. Captain 

 Upton maintains that it was of the Ras-el-Fadawi 

 breed, but the mass of the evidence obtainable 

 points rather to its having been a pure Managni. 



Certainly the Darley Arabian is one of the 

 most historically interesting horses that has ever 

 been imported into this country. The property 

 of John Brewster Darley, Esq., of Aldby Park, 

 near York, it was bought at Aleppo by Brewster 

 Darley's brother for comparatively a small sum, 

 and sent to England about the year 1705, where 

 subsequently it became the sire of Flying Childers 

 and consequently the great-great-grandsire of 

 Eclipse — three names that stand out in the history 

 of the horse and his connection with the history 

 of this country perhaps more prominently than 

 any other three it would be possible to mention. 



Flying Childers, like his sire, was a bay, and Mr 

 Leonard Childers, of Carr House, near Doncaster, 

 who bred him in 17 15, soon afterwards sold him 

 to the Duke of Devonshire. 



About fourteen and a half hands, Flying 

 Childers is described as "a close-made horse, 

 short-backed and compact, whose reach lay 

 altogether in his limbs." 



Eclipse, as we shall see presently, was the 



