346 
Breeding of Ilaniers and Roadsicrs. 
formed a connectinjj^ link between the thorougli-brcd 
and the stronger classes : from such sires, mares fit to breed 
hunters used to be obtained, besides many of the most valu- 
able horses in England for general purposes ; of late years 
whenever such a stallion has made his appearance, it has only 
been to be favoured with a few mares preparatory to his being 
exhibited, and then sold to go abroad. To find a really good 
half-bred stallion of this old stamp, at five years old, has to 
the writer's knovvledge been a rare occurrence during the last ten 
or fifteen years, even in the first horse-breeding districts of the 
kingdom. 
To do justice to this subject it must be regarded both in its 
general and particular aspects : individual breeders who seek to 
promote their own particular interests, cannot be expected to 
take as broad a view of this question as constituted bodies like 
the Royal Agricultural Society, which is founded to promote 
national improvements ; yet the breeder who succeeds in pro- 
ducing fine specimens of the class of horses best suited to his 
locality and requirements, will promote the general good ; whilst 
by classifying and bringing them into notice, the Royal and 
other Agricultural Societies will do their part. 
The breeders of horses are for the most part either wealthy 
amateurs or tenant farmers ; to the latter we must turn for the 
general supply of every description, the race-horse excepted, 
though it must be admitted that English horses of the best 
type owe their state of perfection to royal, noble, and gentlemen 
amateurs. At the present day the stud belonging to her Majesty 
forms a model to all breeders ; and to royal patronage was due 
the high perfection to which the English blood-horse attained 
during the last and previous centuries. 
From 1750 to 1764 inclusive, three horses were bred in 
England, by his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, 
uncle to King George III., which together did more to adv<'\nce 
the value of the English horse, than any set of incidents on 
record. The horses alluded to, were Marske, King Herod, and 
Eclipse. If we pass over the first-mentioned horse Marske, 
because he was the sire of the last — Eclipse — we still have in the 
other two the elements of an entire reformation in the clLiracter 
of the blood-stock of the kingdom. The sons and daughters of 
Herod and Eclipse are unexampled for their character and 
numbers ; and through these in parallel lines, we obtained such 
a stock as no other country has possessed. So efTcctual has been 
the patronage of those in a high station, in advancing the im- 
provement of our horses, that whenever we search out the origin 
of any of our best blood-horses, without which the hunter could 
