THE PROPORTIONS OF THE HORSE. 101 



what can be learnt about " the best horse that ever lived ;" and 

 every such person must feel a debt of gratitude to St. Bel for 

 having, so far as he has, rescued the remains of Eclipse from obli- 

 vion, in having left us data concerning his shape and action, in 

 number and nature sufficient to enable us at this distant day to 

 infer what kind or description of a horse the paragon of racers 

 must have been. 



In St. Bel's " Table of the Geometrical Proportions of Eclipse," 

 the head is " divided into twenty-two equal parts," and thus divided 

 it becomes " the common measure for every part of the body." 

 Aware, however, of the fallacy of this standard, St. Bel adds, " If 

 the head appears too long or too short in a horse, that common mea- 

 sure must be abandoned, and the height of the body taken from 

 the top of the withers to the ground." Lecoq finds the same diffi- 

 culty, and instructs us in such a case to assume as the " unity of 

 mensuration," two-fifths either of the height or of the length of the 

 body ; from which it would appear that the head is to be presumed 

 to be of its proper longitude, when two lengths and a half consti- 

 tute the measure of either the height or the length of the body of 

 the animal. 



We are told by St. Bel, that Eclipse measured 66 inches — ■ 

 16£ hands — in height ; and that he stood higher by an inch behind 

 than before ; and that this great height was still exceeded by the 

 length of his body, that being three inches more, or sixty-nine inches. 

 It is but rarely that we behold a horse of these dimensions, even 

 among the big Derby colts of the present day ; and when we come 

 to add fair proportion and power and energy to this gigantic frame, 

 we shall not feel so much surprise at his wonderful exploits. What 

 appears most remarkable, however, in the " proportions" of this 

 famous horse, is the smallness or shortness of his head, it measuring, 

 according to calculations readily deducible from St. Bel's mensura- 

 tion, but twenty-two inches ; a circumstance, seemingly, that gave 

 rise to his subdivision of it into twenty-two parts, each part then 

 being equivalent to one inch. Hence Eclipse's height being sixty- 

 six inches, was equal to three heads' length, exceeding that of the scale 

 or regular-proportioned horse by half-a-head ; and the same excess, 

 and three inches added to it, occurs in his length : circumstances 

 mostly, I repeat, attributable to the smallness of his head. Eclipse, 



