1 he Godolphin Aj'ab or Barb. "j^ 



nothing certain will now be known of his origin. I 

 understand the distinguished Turkish general, Omar 

 Pasha, who made enquiries about him, was informed in 

 Egypt that he was of the breed or family called Jelfan, 

 which would lead to the supposition that he had either 

 passed from Arabia through Egypt into Africa, or as 

 there was no distinctive name attached to the generic of 

 Jelfan, that he might have been foaled in Egypt, got by 

 a horse of the Jelfan family, from a mare of Egypt ; for 

 had he been pure Arabian of the Jelfan family, the dis- 

 tinguishing adjunct would in all probability have been 

 also known, and he may have been brought from thence 

 or some other part of Northern Africa into Europe. 

 There is a story current in France that he had been sent 

 over as a present to the King of France, which would 

 have been Louis XV., but by whom is not mentioned ; 

 probably the story had its origin in, or was confounded 

 with, the history of the Curwen Bay Barb, presented to 

 Louis XIV. The original portrait of the Godolphin 

 Arab or Barb I have not seen. All of the prints of him 

 do not correspond ; but the expression of the counte- 

 nance, and the outline of the head as more generally 

 depicted, would lead to the supposition that he was a 

 horse of Northern Africa (commonly called a Barb), and 

 not of pure or unmixed Arabian blood, which surmise 

 would be further strengthened by the drawing of the 

 ears, which are shown as lopping outwards. The first of 

 his get was Lath, foaled in 1731, whose dam was Rox- 

 ana, by the Bald Galloway ; he was also the sire of 

 Regulus, foaled in 1739, whose dam. Grey Robinson, 



