26 INFLUENCE OF THE TURF 



The Darley Arabian, 1705, was sent to 

 his brother in England by Mr. Darley, a 

 merchant at Aleppo. This horse, said to 

 have been the most beautiful ever imported, 

 was probably a pure-bred desert Arab, and 

 was reputed to have come, with a marvellous 

 pedigree, from Palmyra. He became the 

 sire of the Devonshire, or " Flying " Childers, 

 as he was subsequently called from his 

 tremendous pace, being reputed the fastest 

 horse known in this country before the 

 mighty JEclipse. 



The Oodolphin Arabian, 1724, supposed 

 by some to have been a Barb and not an 

 Arab at all, though of course the two were 

 very similar in type and character. The 

 romantic history of this horse is well known 

 — how he was presented by the Emperor of 

 Morocco to Louis XIV., but was so little 

 valued by that monarch that he was presently 

 degraded to the shafts of a Paris water-cart, 

 wherein he was cruelly overworked by his 



