284 



THE HORSE. 



lity against those who controvert the opinion estab- 

 lished grammatically by custom ; it is indeed lo?tg by 

 custom, but may be parsed into short, or at least 

 indifferent by revision. Another circumstance full as 

 ludicrous, is the affectation now and then afloat of 

 undervaluing and sneering at the vast powers of 

 Eclipse, with the supposition of being able to post 

 his equal in speed, since ; for one example, in a little 

 nag at Newmarket, some ten or fifteen years past, 

 named Donkey. But facts are incorrigibly stubborn 

 and restive. Where have we ever found before or 

 since, a racer which at will, not only beat, but dis- 

 tanced all his competitors, and that never met one 

 able to live by his side, the space of fifty yards ? He 

 was further distinguished by other and high qualifi- 

 cations ; in fact, as a racer, had the ' universal tool' — 

 speed, vast spring as well as stride, stoutness, honesty, 

 freedom from vice, ability to carry the highest weight, 

 a certain and capital foal getter. He, however, well 

 deserved the epithet I once bestowed upon him — i the 

 capricious Eclipse/ Though free from ill nature, his 

 play was somewhat rough, and Sam Lamer his groom, 

 would not trust me alone with him in his box. In 

 a race, he would for a while, stride along at his rate, 

 when suddenly, his jockey, or the opposing horses 

 having nothing to do in the affair, he would make a 

 tremendous burst, during which, no man living could 

 hold him, Oakley once making the experiment, which, 

 however, was altogether needless, since the horse 

 voluntarily and knowingly, pulled himself up at the 

 ending post; once getting the joke against O 'Kelly 

 at York, for providing a posse comitatus at the ending 



