ECLIPSE " AND THE MODERN THOROUGHBRED 



303 



of HI. tie Saint Bel, member of the R.V.C. and Veterinarian to the Duke of Clarence." 

 The photograph of this skeleton should be compared with Stubbs's admirable 

 engraving in my first volume (p. 45). It will be seen, even by the observer who is 

 no skilled anatomist, that the Veterinary College has hardly appreciated the value of 

 the skeleton which ought to be its most cherished possession. A glance at the bones 

 of Touchstone, so beautifully kept at Eaton, will further demonstrate that proper 

 preservation and display is no difficult matter. I have reproduced the photo of the 

 skeleton of Eclipse exactly as it was in February, 1902, but I shall hope, before 

 another decade is past, to see both these bones and those of Touchstone in the 

 British Museum of Natural History at South Kensington, where the two would form a 

 splendid nucleus of the collection of thoroughbred types which is at present only 

 conspicuous by its absence. Perhaps the Museum at York might then be induced to 

 allow the remains of J3liuk Bonny to join the illustrious company. Hermit and 

 ^Ipology would be notable additions ; and there are no doubt others possible, both of 

 the past and in the future. 



This is not the only material relic of the most famous English thoroughbred who 

 ever raced. Matthew Uawson had a piece of Eclipses skin, which was sent to the 

 Durdans by his heir on his death in 1898. There it has an honoured place in one 

 of the finest sporting collections in the world, and I have seen the Epsom sun- 

 light shining on the fine light chestnut hair. Beneath it is affixed a letter, signed 

 " R. B. Pitman, July 1865," saying that it is " part of a larger piece given to me by 

 Lieut. -Colonel Andrew Denis O'Kelly" (nephew of Eclipses owner), the proprietor 

 of Cannons Park, Middlesex, where Eclipse died, and where his stuffed skin stood 

 in the loft over the stables in 1810. 



Another relic of the great racer and sire is to be found in the Newmarket 

 Challenge Whip, said to have been originally given as a prize by Charles II., though 

 no proof of Royal ownership exists, and the arms on the handle are not Stuart. 

 What is more certain is that in course of time the value of this interesting trophy was 

 very much enhanced by the fact that some hairs from the mane and tail of Eclipse 

 were woven into its lash and wristband, owing perhaps to the victories of PotSos and 

 Diingauiion in 1783 and 1786 respectively. Its previous winners were Sharkc, Sweet 

 William, Gimcrack, Malton, and a horse variously called Dnmplin and Dimple, who 

 existed at a date which is equally vague, and varies from 1702 to 1764. The 

 subject reminds me that in 1821 George IV. may have been following the accepted 

 tradition when he gave a Gold Whip to the Turf Club in Ireland in 1821, to be run 



