2 
THE HOESE. 
THE RACE-HORSE. 
various race-courses, computed to liave gained to their owners L.201,505. From the celebrity of Herod and his stock, it is 
usual to call the descendants of the Byerly Turk the Herod line of horses, and this distinction is still recognised by English 
sportsmen. 
In the latter years of Queen Anne, an Arabian had been brought to England which tended to impress a new character on 
the English turf. This animal, the progenitor of some of the finest horses that have perhaps existed in the world, wa'S purchased 
at Aleppo by a merchant, the brother of Mr Harley of Yorkshire. He was supposed to have been of the Desert breed, although 
his precise lineage was not determined. He got the Devonshire or Flying Childers, and another horse termed Bartlett’s Childers, 
who was never trained, but who was the ancestor of Eclipse, one of the most remarkable horses of which we have any records. 
The Devonshire or Flying Childers, born in 1715, was so named from his breeder Mr Leonaed Childees, of Carr House, 
near Doncaster, from whom he was purchased, when young, by the Duke of Devonshiee. He was a chestnut-horse, with four 
white legs. He was of noble form, of matchless courage, and the fleetest horse that had ever been upon the English turf. He 
was at first trained as a hunter, but his surpassing speed being observed, he was transferred to the turf. About the year 1721, 
he ran a trial race with two of the finest horses of the day. Carrying 9 st. 2 lb., he ran over the Round Course of Newmarket, 
3 miles 4 furlongs and 93 yards, in 6 minutes and 40 seconds; and over the Beacon Course, 4 m. 1 fur. 138 yards, in 7 minutes 
and 30 seconds. 
Eclipse was got by Marske, a grandson of Bartlett’s Childers, out of Spiletta. He was foaled in the year 1764, during the 
eclipse of that year; from which circumstance he took his name. He was bred by the Duke of Cumbekland, and on the death 
of that Prince sold to Mr Wildman, a salesman at Smithfield; and afterwards he became the property of Mr O’ Kelly. 
Eclipse had not the grandeur of form of the Flying Childers, and might have escaped notice, but for the accidental trial of his 
stupendous powers. He was about fifteen hands and one inch high. His shoulders were very low, oblique, and so thick above, 
that, according to the observation of the time, a firkin of butter might have rested upon them. He stood very high behind, a 
conformation suited to his great power of progression. He was so thick-winded as to be heard blowing at a considerable distance. 
In the language of honest John Laweence, “ he puffed and Mowed like an otter, and galloped as wide as a barn-door.” No 
sooner were his powers exhibited on the turf, than every eye was set to scrutinize his form, and he was then admitted to possess 
in perfection the external characters indicative of great speed. A volume was written on his proportions by M. Saintbel, a veteri¬ 
nary surgeon, whose investigation showed that his figure differed greatly from the conventional form which speculative writers had 
assigned as the standard of perfection. He was of an indomitable temper, and his jockeys found it in vain to attempt to hold 
him, but contented themselves with remaining still on the saddle, while he swept along, his nose almost touching the ground. 
His full speed was not determined, since he never met with an opponent sufficiently fleet to put it to the proof. He not only 
was never beaten, but he was able to distance some of the best horses of his time; and the fleetest could not keep by his side for 
50 yards together. 
This remarkable horse first appeared on the turf at the age of five in 1769. In the first heat, he set off of his own accord, 
and easily gained the race, his rider pulling him in vain with all his force for the last mile. O’ Kelly observing this, and aware 
of his horse’s powers, offered in the second heat “ to place the horses,” and he took heavy bets that he did so. When called 
upon to declare, he said, “ Eclipse first, and the rest no place.” He gained his wagers : Eclipse was first, and all the others were 
distanced, or, in the language of the turf, had no place. From this time Eclipse was continually on the turf, and gained every 
race. No horse daring to contend with him, he closed his career of seventeen months by walking over the Newmarket Course for 
the King’s Plate, in October 1770. During this brief period, it is said that he gained L.25,000 for his owner. He was then 
employed with prodigious profit as a stallion. He got 334 winners at our numerous race-courses, who are computed to have gained 
about L.160,000 to their owners, besides cups and plates. He died in 1789, at the age of twenty-five. 
Eclipse, it will be seen, was directly descended from the Darley Arabian, and, besides, united in himself the best blood of the 
turf. It has been proposed to distinguish the line which he adorned as the Eclipse line ofdiorses, just as that in which Herod is 
found has been designated the Herod line. 
Another horse of foreign lineage, scarcely inferior to the Darley Arabian in the fame and value of his descendants, and by 
many supposed to have exercised a yet more important influence on the horses of the turf, is the Godolphin Barb, who lived a 
short time later than the Darley Arabian, having been born about the year 1724. This splendid horse was long regarded as an 
Arabian, although his characters approached to those of the Barb. He was found dragging a water-cart in Franee, and was pro¬ 
bably one of those neglected presents of horses, frequent at that time, from the Barbary Powers to the French Court. He was 
brought to England, and finally presented to the Lord Godolphin, in whose stud he remained a considerable time before his value 
was suspected ; and then only it was discovered in consequence of the excellence of one of his sons, Lath, out of Roxana, who proved 
