ANIMALS. 



487 



that the English horses are now capable of performing what no 

 others ever could attain to. By a judicious mixture of the se- 

 veral kinds, by the happy difference of our soils, and by our su- 

 perior skill in management, we have brought this animal to its 

 iiighest perfection. An English horse, therefore, is now known 

 to excel the Arabian in size and swiftness, to be more durable 

 than the Barb, and more hardy than the Persian. An ordinary 

 racer is known to go at the rate of a mile in two minutes -. and 

 we had one instance, in the admirable Cliilders, of still greater 

 rapidity. He has been frequently known to move above eight}- 

 two feet and a half in a second, or almost a mile in a minute • 

 he has also run round the course of Newmarket, which is very 

 little less than four miles, in six minutes and forty seconds. 

 But what is surprising, few horses have been since found that 

 ever could equal him ; and those of his breed have been remark- 

 ably deficient.* 



However this be, no horses can anyway equal our own, either 

 in point of swiftness or strength ; and these are the qualifications 

 our horsemen seem chiefly to value. For this reason, when the 



• This norse was well known by the name of the Flying, or Devonshire, 

 Childers. He was the property of the Duke of Devonshire, and allowed by 

 sportsmen to be the fleetest horse that ever was bred in the world. He start- 

 ed repeatedly at Newmarket against the best horses of his time, and was 

 never beaten. He won in different prizes, to the amount of nearly £iO,000, 

 and was afterwards reserved for breeding. The sire of Childers was an Ara- 

 bian, sent by a gentleman as a present to his brother in England. Childers 

 wa-s somewhat more than fifteen hands in height. He was foaled in 1715, 

 and was the property of I,eonard Childers, Esq. of Carr House, near Don 

 (.•aster, and sold when young to the Duke of Devonshire. 



It is said that Childers was first used as a hunter, where he evinced high 

 qualities, and was noted for being very headstrong, as well as vicious. He 

 had not however any restiveness. It is supposed his racing career com- 

 menced at five or six, and he beat all competitors at whatever distance. He 

 was never tried at running a single mile, but his speed must have been almost 

 a mile in a minute. He ran over the Beacon course, which is four miles, one 

 fnrlong, and one hundred and thirty.eight yards, in seven minutes and thirty 

 seconds ; covering at every bound a space of about twenty-five feet. On 

 one occasion he made a spring or leap, with his rider on his back, on level 

 ground, of twenty-five feet. Childers died in the Duke of Devonshire's stud 

 ill I7H, aged twenty-six years. There were various other coursers of the 

 same name nearly cotemporary with this prince of horses. Bleeding Childers, 

 Ml named from his having frequent bleedings at the nose, afterwards called 

 Young Childers, and finally Bartletfa Childers : he was full brother to Fly- 

 ing Childers, and was never tr^ned. 



