ON HORSE-BREEDING. 27 



proprietor, but watched over the while by 

 his faithful attendant till he was rescued 

 and brought to England by Mr. Coke. Even 

 here he was thought little of, and given no 

 chance at the stud till he took one for him- 

 self, as is portrayed in Rosa Bonheur's last 

 great picture, " The Duel," a fine copy of 

 which has by a coincidence reached me 

 from Messrs. Lefevre while engaged on this 

 chapter. The influence of this horse upon 

 our thoroughbred stock, transmitted chiefly 

 through Lath and Cade, the offspring of his 

 unions with Roxana, has equalled, if not 

 surpassed, even that of the Darley Arabian. 

 Erom these three fovints of pure blood 

 all our best stock has been derived, and 

 there has hardly been a racehorse of any 

 eminence which could not directly trace his 

 descent from one or more of these illustrious 

 fathers of the stud. " The Godolphin Arab," 

 "Stonehenge," one of our most reliable equine 

 authorities remarks, " is very commonly 



