THE HORSE. 285 



post to stop his runaway kill devil. Eclipse was his 

 own jockey, his rider having nothing more to do than 

 to sit fast, and hold hard. He was about fifteen hands 

 one half in height, his vast strength lying in his loins 

 and shoulders, and his muscular fulness. When in 

 flesh, the top of his forehand was a table, and his 

 hinder train being elevated, he carried a saddle for- 

 ward, but fast. He looked a true English bred horse ; 

 Marske his reputed sire, appeared all over, wild and 

 foreign. Garrick, the reputed full brother to Eclipse, 

 which I saw when the property of Mr. Tattersall, 

 had no family resemblance whatever to Eclipse. The 

 bone under Eclipse's knee was not large, and his feet 

 when I last saw them were not bad, but subsequently 

 neglected, O 'Kelly, like many other sportsmen, know- 

 ing far more about betting upon horses, than of the 

 horses. There was no difficulty in training him, his 

 constitution was good ; in his sweats, he ' puffed and 

 blowed like an otter,' and galloped l as wide behind 

 as a barn door.' His not being raced until five years 

 old, it may be presumed, was in conformity with the 

 old and well grounded maxim, that time should be 

 allowed for the racer's joints to knit. I never heard 

 that he cut a hair in his paces. 



The total eclipse of the sun in 1761, on the morn- 

 ing when this horse was foaled and thence named, 

 was ominous of his future glory and immortality in 

 the deathless annals of the English Turf. I well re- 

 member that midnight morning, when the cocks and 

 hens hied to roost, and also our glasses and great 

 brewing tub in the garden filled with water, the sur- 

 face partly covered, for viewing the eclipsed planet. 



