A Dissertation on Horses | Page 2

place
of his nativity, or perhaps from both.
There was in the North in his time, a very famous Stallion called
Boreas: Whether the present breeders have any of that blood left, I do
not certainly know; but Homer, to flatter the owner, who was a
subscriber to his book, and always gave him two half guineas instead of
one, fabled that this same Boreas begot his colts as fleet as the wind.
This to be sure will be looked upon as nothing more than a matter of
polite partiality to his benefactor: But it is much to be feared, this
partiality has not been confined to persons alone; for there is reason to
believe, that in many cases, he has varied the true pedigree of his
Horses, and (not unlike our modern breeders) has left out one cross that
has been thought not good, and substituted another in its room held
more fashionable.

We have an account in one of his books, (I forget the year when it was
published) of a very famous chariot-race, that was run over Newmarket
between five noblemen; and though it was the custom at that time to
run with a two-wheeled chaise and pair only, instead of four, we find
all other customs nearly the same. The names of the Horses are given
us, their pedigrees, and the names of the drivers; the course is marked
out, judges appointed, betts** offered, but no crossing or jostling
allowed; a plain proof they depended on winning from the excellence
of their Horses alone. But though a curricle and pair was then the
fashion, there lived at that time a strange mad kind of fellow, haughty
and overbearing, determined that no body should do anything like
himself, who always drove three; and though the recital of this
circumstance may be considered as trivial, or little to the purpose, we
shall find something in the story worth our attention, and with respect
to Horses, a case very singular, such a one as no history, no tradition,
nor our own experience has ever furnished us with a similar instance of.
It seems these three Horses were so good that no Horses in the
kingdom would match them. Homer, after having been very lavish in
their praise, has given us their names, and the pedigree of two of them,
which it seems were full brothers. He tells us, they were as swift as the
wind, and in his bombast** way of writing, says they were immortal;
which expression is exactly of the same style and meaning with our
modern phrase high-bred, and could mean nothing else, because in the
recital of the pedigree, he tells us, they were got by this same
North-country Horse before mentioned, called Boreas, and out of a
flying Mare called Podarge. But the singularity of this case is, that the
third Horse, whom he calls Pedasus**, was absolutely a common Horse,
and of no blood. Here I beg leave to make use of Mr. Pope's words,
who, in his translation, speaking of those Horse, says thus:
"Who like in strength, in swiftness, and in grace, "A mortal courser
match'd th'immortal race."
Now as nothing is more certain, than that no Horses but those of blood
can race in our days, I have long been endeavouring to find the true
reason of this singular instance, and cannot any way account for it, but
by supposing this equality of strength and elegance might produce an
equality of swiftness. This consideration naturally produced another,
which is, that the blood of all Horses may be merely ideal; and if so, a

word of no meaning. But before I advance any thing more on this
hypothesis, and that I may not be guilty of treason against the received
laws of jockey-ship, I do here lay it down as a certain truth, that no
Horses but such as come from foreign countries, or which are of
extraction totally foreign, can race. In this opinion every man will
readily join me, and this opinion will be confirmed by every man's
experience and observation.
But in discussing this point, I shall beg leave, when speaking of these
Horses, to change the word HIGH-BRED, and in its room substitute the
word foreigner, or of foreign extraction. For perhaps it may appear, that
the excellence we find in these Horses depends totally on the
mechanism of their parts, and not in their blood; and that all the
particular distinctions and fashions thereof, depend also on the whim
and caprice of mankind.
If we take a Horse bred for the cart, and such a one as we call a hunter,
and a horse of foreign extraction, and set them together, the meanest
judge will easily point out the best racer, from the texture, elegance,
and symmetry of