THE PROPORTIONS OF ECLIPSE. 105 



is, that horses should measure equal lengths from the fetlock to 

 the elbow, and from the latter to the withers, if we subtract the 

 length of the pasterns and foot, altogether, say nine or ten inches, or 

 even a foot, we shall still have an excess of length of limb. After 

 we have been told, however, that his chest measured twenty-six 

 inches in diameter, there appears something rather irreconcileable 

 with the statement that from the withers to the elbow is but 

 twenty-five inches. It is not my desire to impugn St. Bel's 

 " table," though I must say that in this, and one or two places 

 besides, there appears some discordance in his admeasurements. 



We may, however, I think, safely receive as matter of fact 

 the following summary : — 



Eclipse was " a big horse" in every sense of the words : he was 

 tall in stature, lengthy and capacious in his body, and large in his 

 limbs. For a big horse, his head was small, and partook of the 

 Arabian character. His neck was unusually long. His shoulder 

 was strong, sufficiently oblique, and, though not remarkable for, not 

 deficient in depth. His chest was circular. He rose very little in 

 his withers, being higher behind than before. His back was 

 lengthy, and over the loins roached. His quarters were straight, 

 square, and extended. His limbs were lengthy and broad, and 

 his joints large : in particular his arms and thighs were long and 

 muscular, and his knees and hocks broad and well-formed. 



That which, however, constituted, in St. Bel's eye, " the most 

 beautiful and important quality of his structure" was the perpendi- 

 cular lines drawn through his fore and hind limbs : indeed, so per- 

 fect were they, that " they may serve," adds St. Bel, " as rules in 

 the choice of the best racers." 



The first perpendicular falls from (what we call "the 

 point of the shoulder") the articulation of the humerus with the 

 scapula, precisely upon the front of the toe. 



The second falls from the upper part of the fore-arm or elbow 

 to the heel of the fore foot, dividing in its course, longitudinally, 

 the fore-arm, knee, and cannon. 



St. Bel's third perpendicular is but a part of his second ; and his 

 fourth drops equidistant between the fore limbs. We, therefore, 

 shall pass to 



The fifth, which falling from the point of the stifle, according 



P 



