THE HORSE. 287 



with him, to insist on the paternity of his racer for 

 his own stallion, and to endeavour to invalidate the 

 fact of Eclipse's dam having been covered by Shake- 

 speare. Nempe, that is to say, for I pretend to nothing 

 further, so it appeared to others and to me. In a con- 

 versation on the matter, with Sam Lamer, Eclipse's 

 groom, he remarked, " now they say the mare was 

 not covered by Shakespeare;" others also, of the 

 initiated, introduced the self-same enigmatical now ; 

 and beyond all this, ' little Wildman knew what's 



what,' — 



and that's as high, 



As (money getting) wit can fly. 



Thus the new version passed current, and in a late 

 defence of it, are brought forward Mr. Goodisson's 

 authority, and that of Mr. Sandiver the sporting 

 surgeon of Newmarket, from whom I have letters 

 enough to make a little pamphlet ; but I verily be- 

 lieve, neither of them knew ought of the matter. The 

 oath sported, l that Eclipse ivas got hy Marsh,' is some- 

 thing like a joke. I should greatly prefer the mare's 

 oath of affiliation, had she been capable of giving it in 

 verbis dictis. This oath by Bernard Smith, as stated, 

 merely shows the stud groom's opinion ; had he indeed 

 sworn, that to the best of his knowledge, and he must 

 have known, that the mare was not covered by Shake- 

 speare, it would have been definitive. The report was 

 current, that exclusive of his opinion, he had other 

 reasons in support of his oath ; the silence of the 

 keeper of the match book in this affair, may be well 

 matched with the same silence in the affair of Samp- 

 son. But all this fuss made by Wildman, excited no 



