' As thoroiLgh-bred as Eclipse.^ 103 



enduring, or that as stallions they are the sires which 

 beget the stoutest stock ? Is not the contrary rather the 

 rule ? The history of the thoroughbred, and more espe- 

 cially the tables of pedigrees given at the end, most 

 conclusively prove our horse is neither altogether of 

 Arabian blood, nor yet even entirely of Eastern extrac- 

 tion, and therefore certainly not thorough-bred. More- 

 over, the three horses, Herod, Matchem, and Eclipse, 

 from which all modern horses are descended, were 

 nothing more than half-bred, got by half-bred sires 

 from half-bred dams ; which completely destroys the 

 theory that the English racer is entirely of Arabian 

 blood — ' the true son of Arabia Deserta.' 



'As thorough-bred as Eclipse' is a common expression 

 in speaking of a horse's claim to pure breeding. If he 

 be not better bred than Eclipse, he is but a cocktail. 

 People are apt to talk of horses tracing back to Eclipse 

 and Herod, and in looking at pedigrees which are seldom 

 drawn out so far as either ; but by seeing a combination 

 of the blood of Herod and Eclipse, say, ' There's blood 

 for you ; good enough for anything ! ' Kind reader, look 

 carefully at the pedigrees of your favourite horses ; the 

 real interest and the very essence of which only begin 

 with those up to which you are content to trace. Look, 

 and find that the ' terribly high-bred cattle,' which yon 

 fondly imagine to be without peer, are the descendants 

 of a half-bred horse and a half-bred dam. Look a little 

 further back, to the days of Queen Anne, and trace the 

 pedigrees also given of some horses of her days, in which, 

 at all events, nothing but Eastern blood can be found ; 



