THE DOMESTIC HORSE, 169

The Horse's The quality of speed for which the horse is
Speed. so justly esteemed has been the subject of ex-
tensive culture in which the Arabian horse has contributed
no mean share. “Some of the horses first brought from
Arabia having been by no means celebrated,” says Captain
Brown, “the breed had fallen into disrepute, till the descendants
of one procured by Mr. Darley from the deserts, and on
that account called the Darley Arabian, having borne away
the palm for fleetness from all others, turned the tide of
fashion in favour of that breed. Yet it is only the progeny
of the Arabian horses that excels. The English race-horses
are equal, if not superior, to all other coursers. As the ex-
traordinary swiftness of the horse has been most signally
displayed in the English race-course, and can also be there
most precisely measured, we cannot omit the notice of some
of the most remarkable of our racers. The most celebrated
of these—and indeed the fleetest horse that ever was bred
in the world—was Flying Childers, got by the Darley Arabian.
What Achilles was among warriors, and Cesar among con-
querors, such was Childers among horses, without an equal
and without a rival. He ran against the most famous horses
of his age, and was always victorious. He has been known
to move at the rate of nearly a mile in the minute. Next
to Childers, in fame and fleetness, is Eclipse, so called from
having been foaled during the great eclipse of 1764. This
horse likewise was never beaten: one contemporary rival alone
was supposed to exist, Mr. Shaftoe’s horse Goldfinder, but
Goldfinder broke down the October before the proposed
competition. Eclipse’s rate of going was 47 feet in the second.
Childers had a rate of 49. One hundred to one were offered
on Eclipse against the most famous racers of his day. Mr.
O’Kelly purchased him for sixteen hundred and fifty guineas,
and cleared by him twenty-five thousand pounds. He had
a vast stride,—never horse threw his haunches below him
with more vigour or effect; and his hind legs were so spread