6 



perfect as tbe first. It was judged by the spectators, among whom was 

 the King, the Prince of Denmark, the Duke of York, and several of the 

 Court, noble persons skilled in horses, especially M. Faubert and his son, 

 Provost Masters of the Academy, and esteemed of the best in Europe, 

 that there were never seen any horses in these parts to be compared 

 with them." 



The present races of the English horse are, with the exception of the 

 ponies, a very mixed breed. Our draught horses are in a large degree 

 derived from the horses of Flanders, and it is by no means improbable 

 that our Saxon forefathers brought with them some of the heavy horses 

 of Holstein and Sleswick. An indigenous full-sized horse, however, 

 certainly existed in the time of the Roman dominion. It was this, most 

 probably, that was used in the scythed chariots of the Britons. It was, at 

 all events, possessed of such good qualities as to be much sought after on 

 the Continent. From this horse and the blood of the Arab has sprang 

 our famous race-horse, far exceeding in fleetness all others. The Arab, 

 for breeding, seems first to have been introduced in the beginning of the 

 seventeenth century in the reign of James the First. In about a century's 

 time, or ending ^vith the time of Queen Anne, all the benefit derivable from 

 the Arab blood seems to have been completed. It is certain, however, 

 that the original unmixed English horse, from which the race-horse 

 derives its size and strength, must have possessed excellent qualities, for 

 we have in proof the fact that Flying Childers, supposed to be the 

 fleetest horse that England ever produced, was the immediate offspring of 

 an English mare by the Darley Arabian, a genuine Arab of the Desert, 

 — that he was, in other words, a half-bred, a fact which seems to be 

 implied by his portraits, for although his other points appear unobjection- 

 able, he has a large coarse head, such as a true Arab never had. The 

 celebrated Eclipse traced his pedigree not very remotely to the Godol- 

 phin Arabian, which has been supposed by some to have been a Barb, but 

 1 fancy only from the fulness of his crest. If the account I have heard 

 be true, that he was a present from the Sultan to Louis the Fourteenth, the 

 probability is that he was a true Arab, as the Sultan could easily have 

 got one without going to the mixed blood of Barbary. 



Although, however, no account is given of the dam of Flying Childers 

 it is likely that she may have had some Arab blood, for the horse was of 

 the time of Queen Anne, before which Spanish, Barb and even Arab 

 horses had for 100 years been introducing into England. 



If, then, the Arab blood be the only true one, there is no such thing 

 as a thorough-bred English horse. Our race-horse with all its perfection 



