The Sporting Dictionary and Rural Repository, Volume 2 (of 2) / Of General Information upon Every Subject Appertaining to the Sports of the Field

by William Taplin

MERCURY

—was the name of a horse, that, as a RACER, and afterwards a STALLION, stood very high in sporting estimation. He was bred by the late Colonel O'Kelly; foaled in 1778; was got by Eclipse out of a Tartar mare, who was likewise the dam of Whitenose, Maria, Antiochus, Venus, Jupiter, Adonis, Lilly of the Valley, Volunteer, Bonnyface, and Queen Mab. After having acquired considerable celebrity as a good runner, and proved himself equal to any horse of his time, he became a favourite STALLION in the possession of Lord Egremont, where he has produced a numerous progeny, including a very great number of winners, many of much note; and amongst the rest, the following celebrated horses, some of whom are stallions in high reputation: Calomel, Sublimate, Hippolyta, Mercutio, Old Gold, Precipitate, Quicksilver, Young Mercutio, Felix, Cinnabar, Mother Bunch, Hermes, Pill Box, Silver, Transit, Gohanna, Caustic, Stadholder, Buckingham, &c. &c.