Sir J. Williams's Turk got Mr. Honeywood's two True Blues, out of the only thorough-bred mare he was ever known to cover; though he got some middling racers out of common mares, whose pedigrees were not known.
The Belgrade Turk was taken at the siege of Belgrade, and, after passing through the hands of General Merci, the Prince de Craon, and the Prince of Lorrain, became the property of Sir Marmaduke Wyvill, in whose possession he died about 1740.
Croft's Bay Barb was got by Chillaby out of the Moonah Barb Mare.
The Godolphin Arabian was the property of Lord Godolphin, and thought so little of as a stallion, and so little likely to get racers, that he was for some years teazer to Hobgoblin; but, upon his refusing to cover Roxana, the Arabian had the leap, which produced Lath, the first horse he ever got. To Lath succeeded Cade, Regulus, Blank, Babraham, Bajazet, &c. &c. and there can be no doubt, from the success of the progeny of each, but that he contributed more to the value and speed of horses for the turf, than any other foreign stallion ever brought into this kingdom.
The Cullen Arabian was sire of Camillus, Sour Face, the dam of Regulator, &c. &c.
The Coombe Arabian, called also the Pigot Arabian, was sire of Methodist, the dam of Cross, &c.
The Compton Barb, or Sedley Arabian, was sire of Coquette, Greyling, &c.
The Arcot Arabian has been covering a few years in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, but has not produced any thing of note. This may probably happen from a want of interest in procuring thorough-bred mares, without which a stallion for racing blood can acquire no celebrity.
King Charles the Second sent over his master of the horse to procure a number of foreign horses and mares for breeding; and the mares brought over by him, as well as many of their produce, have since been called Royal Mares. Dodsworth, though foaled in England, was a natural Barb; his dam was imported in foal during the time of Charles the Second, and was sold for forty guineas at twenty years old, (after the King's death,) then in foal (by the Helmsley Turk) of Vixen, afterwards dam of the old Child Mare.
However largely this description of horses may have contributed to the improvement of blood in this country, and however grand and majestic they may appear in competition with our more settled, steady, and well-broke studs; yet, when the uniformity of parts which constitute the whole come to be judiciously examined, and every point of perfection precisely ascertained, no doubt can or need be entertained, but the best bred horses in Britain, as Highflyer, Escape, Rockingham, Hambletonian, Diamond, and many others, must stand firmly entitled to the palm of priority. The most accurate must have observed, that the major part of the horses brought to this country as Barbs and Arabians, being submitted to public inspection, are very much inferior in height to our own, few reaching, and none exceeding, fifteen hands: they have mostly a curvilinear hollowness of the back, a narrowness of the chest, (indicative of speed, but the reverse of strength,) and a palpable deficiency in the arm or fore thigh, seemingly disproportioned to their own weight. Their apparent powers are entirely appropriate to the purposes of speed, and not to the common services of the people of this country; being, in general, bad, uneven walkers; and once exerted to a trot, their legs are thrown about in the clambering manner of the German cavalry, much more adapted to the gratification of pompous parade, than the neatness or utility of expeditious action.