10 THE RACE HORSE. 



always congenial with the nature of the horse, were found highly to improve in 

 size and powers, the progeny of the horses of the South ; and thence, aided by 

 the systematic care of our turf breeders, has arisen the British race horse, in the 

 state of beauty, symmetry, and perfection, which we now witness ; and the supe- 

 riority of which, all the world acknowledges and admires. This species had pro- 

 bably arrived at perfection, a hundred years since, in the instance of FI.YING 

 CHILDERS, since the speed of that wonderful animal has never been exceeded, 

 nor does it seem within the experienced powers of nature that it ever should. 

 From that period, the greatest attention has been paid to pedigree, and to pre- 

 serving the racing breed pure and unmixed. Accidental mixtures there certainly 

 have been, for such are upon record ; but they have been comparatively few, mere 

 drops of common, in the grand stream of pure and high racing blood. Such crosses 

 have heen occasionally apparent in the form and qualities of the produce, perhaps 

 for several generations ; but they have been obliterated by time, and are not dis- 

 coverable in the remote descents. Within the above period, but not very lately, 

 the phenomenon has now and then appeared of a horse not thorough-bred, proving- 

 a winning, even a capital racer. But such exceptions will not induce experienced 

 Sportsmen to infringe the general rule, by breeding from, or training horses for 

 the course, which are not thorough-bred. The same rule holds, however ano- 

 malous it may seem, with respect to foreign horses of the purest blood, from which 

 our thorough-breed is derived. None of them, and the experiment has often been 

 repeated, whatever be their age, size, or condition, are able to contend upon the 

 course, from a race of one hundred yards to one hundred miles, with their relatives 

 and brethren in blood, the race-horses of this country. 



The latest intelligence respecting the horses usually imported from the Levant 

 is to be found in the Travels of Count Forbin, who inspected in Syria, not probably 

 with the eye of a jockey, several beautiful Arabian horses. He has given the 

 modern names of the different varieties of the courser in that country, which do 

 not agree with those formerly published by travellers. The highest formed and 

 most valuable breed he terms O(EL-NAGDY : they are brought from Bassora, 

 whence it is probable they are of the same blood as the famous Darley Arabian. 

 The present price of such of the best size and form, is ajxmt eighteen hundred 

 pounds sterling each ; and two or three years since, a mare of this race was sold at 

 St. Jean d'Acre, for nearly double that sum. It is well known, that scarcely even ex- 

 treme distress will induce the Arab breeder to part with a mare of this ancient 

 IK ( , nor have we any authentic account of such a one reaching this country. 

 Soon after the campaigns in Egypt, a British officer of high rank being at Aleppo, 

 was informed of the distress of a breeder and dealer from the desart, said to possess 

 the finest, shaped mare and of the oldest pedigree in Arabia deserta. Application 

 for purchase, at almost any price, was ustantly made through an interpreter. 

 The an^uer, partly in the form of another question, was as follows " Wouldst 



