2U CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



the best and most celebrated ..four modern racing stock. He was the parent of Flying Childers, 

 rirtlett's Childcrs, Alniiinxor, and others, mid from these, again, have descended various branches, all 

 excellent, traceable to the Darley Arabian. Subsequent to the introduction of this far-famed horse 

 Lord Codolphin iH'camc possessed of a barb, called the Oodolphin Arabian, celebrated not only for its 

 excellence, but for its friendship with a cat.* From this horse descended a celebrated stock, to 

 which oilier Kastern horses, as the Wellesley Arabian, <fec., have also contributed. Such, then, is the 

 origin of the English racer; and in no part of the world can horses be found of equal spirit, power, 

 :HI.| tleetness. 



The modern hunter, which combines the qualifications of speed and endurance, is a remove from 

 the pure-blood racer in the first degree ; a first-rate hunter is generally three-fourths bred, as it is 

 termed. The product of a superior Cleveland mare, a strong, useful breed for "all work," and a 

 thorough-bred horse or racer, or even a three-fourths bred horse, will often prove a fair hunter ; but 

 the product, again, of this and a pure-blood horse we apprehend to constitute the bwaterpar r.nr/A nee. 

 The eagerness with which this noble animal enters into the exciting sport of the chase, and its strength 

 and power of endurance, are well known. 



The roadster, or hack, formerly constituted a race by itself, allied to the hunter, and not 

 destitute of some of the hunter's blood, but of more compact form, and more robustly built. In the 

 pre*ent day, however, long journeys on horseback are seldom attempted, and a light half-bred horse is 

 u'eiierally preferred for the saddle. The coach-horse, and the best breeds for light carriages and chaises, 

 are a product of the Cleveland and the hunter of high blood. The unprecedented speed ultimately 

 attained on the road did not arise, generally speaking, from the cruel treatment of animals. A fast 

 coach had very nearly a horse to every mile of ground it ran. Proprietors of coaches found out 

 though they were a long time before they did discover it that the hay and corn market was not so 

 expensive as the horse market. No horse lived so high as a coach-horse. In the language of the road, 

 liis stomach was the measure of his corn ; he was fed ad libitum. One horse in four was always at 

 rest ; or, in other words, each horse lay still on the fourth day. The average period of each horse's 

 service did not exceed four years in a fast coach perhaps scarcely so much. 



And then a wonderful change had taken place in the English coach-horse. Eighty years ago the 

 idea of putting a thorough-bred horse into harness would have been considered preposterous. In the 

 carriages of our noblemen and gentlemen the long-tailed black or Cleveland bay each one remove 

 from the cart-horse was the prevailing sort, and six miles an hour the extent of his pace ; and he 

 cost from 30 to 50. But fifty years after horses of such blood were put into our stage-coaches, that 

 a groom- to each was required to put them in, and they were changed in the space of a minute ; eight 

 or ten miles being the limit of a stage. 



Meteor, a son of Eclipse, hardly exceeded fourteen hands and a half; he was, however, very strong 

 and handsome, with a remarkably good constitution and legs, which enabled him to stand the wear 

 and tear of training for seven years. Meteor was just a little short of the first-class or form of race- 

 horses, running well at all weights and distances. Copenhagen, the celebrated horse ridden by Wel- 

 lington during the battle of Waterloo, was his illustrious progeny, liis dam was Lady Catherine. 

 The Duke's charger is said to have derived his name from being foaled at Copenhagen ; at that time 

 it was very common to name race-horses after some remarkable event of the war. Thus, they had the 



- of Albuenv, Waterloo, Smolensko, and St. Vincent; and most probably, for a similar reason, 

 Copenhagen received that title. As a racer, however, he gained no distinction. At four years old he 

 eame out at Chester races for three inferior prizes, and ran seven heats without having in any one put 

 his head in the proper place. Copenhagen never again appeared on the turf. As the Duke was not 

 his earliest master when serving as a charger, and as he was only seven years old \\hcn at Waterloo, 

 it is probable that he could not have seen actual service under his illustrious burden for more th.-n 

 two campaigns. 



In Sir Thomas Lawrence's celebrated portrait of the Duke, he is mounted 011 Copenhagen. The 

 ..ri-.'inal study for the picture, painted on panel, and purchased at the artist's sale, became the property 

 f.f Mr. yYalesby, of Waterloo-place. 



At Waterloo, it is said, the Duke was eighteen hours on his back ; but Copenhagen gave little 



See vol. ii., page 98. 



