MISCELLANEA. 
118 
English saddle-horse. The Spanish breed was introduced very 
largely into this country; for we find that Edward III im- 
ported fifty Spanish horses, at a cost equal to £160 each of our 
present money. The Spanish horse was celebrated for his 
beauty and the grandeur of his action ; and as he was used as 
a war horse, he must have been an animal of some strength. 
The effect of the humid pastures of England was, no doubt, to 
enlarge his size. Edward II imported thirty Lombardy war- 
horses and twelve heavy draught-horses, thus accounting very 
easily for the source of our heavy cart breeds. Extensive im- 
portations were also, from time to time, received from Flanders; 
indeed, during the last century it was customary for our 
wealthier gentry to travel to the metropolis behind six Flanders 
mares. Those of a grey colour were preferred, and hence the 
origin of the proverb, “ The grey mare is the better horse.” 
The Barb and the Arabian are separate varieties of the same 
original breed, modified by different climate, food, and treat- 
ment. The Barb is the origin of the English thoroughbred 
horse; for we find that when the Duke of Newcastie wrote, 
they were considered superior, in point of speed, to any other 
horses in England ; the Arabian at that period not having been 
introduced. Good as the Barbs might have been, it is unques- 
tionably the fact that the breed in this country was vastly im- 
proved by the introduction of the Darnley Arabian, towards the 
close of the seventeenth century. This horse, the sire of the 
celebrated Childers, and the great great grandfather of the still 
more celebrated Eclipse, was also the sire of the most celebrated 
horses of his time, and may be considered as one of the prin- 
cipal foundation stones of our noble breed of race-horscs, which 
may thus be considered to inherit the peculiar excellence of the 
Barb, the Arabian, and the Turk, still farther improved and 
enlarged by English feeding and careful selection. In tracing 
the history of our race-horses, we may at once go back to 
Eclipse, on reference to whose pedigree we find that he was 
the fourth in descent from the Darnley Arabian, and the sixth 
from the Leeds Arabian, the seventh in descent from the Barb 
mare, the third from the Godolphin Arabian (supposed to be a 
Barb), the fifth from Hutton’s grey Barb, and the sixth from the 
Sister Turk, in four several and different lines ; also, the seventh 
from D’Arcey’s White Turk, in no less than seven lines. Thus, 
it appears, that the Barb, the Turk, and the Arabian all contri- 
buted to the production of this peerless animal, alike extraor- 
dinary both for speed and endurance. 
