But I much fear our
distinctions of good and bad blood are determined with much
partiality; for every jockey has his particular favourite blood,
of which he judges from events, success, or prejudice: else, how
comes it to pass, that we see the different opinions and fashions
of blood varying daily! nay, we see the very same blood undergoing
the very same fate; this year rejected, the next in the highest
esteem; or this year in high repute, the next held at nothing. How
many changes has the blood of Childers undergone! once the best,
then the worst, now good again! Where are the descendants of Bay
Bolton, that once were the terror of their antagonists! Did these
prevail by the superiority of their blood, or because their power
and their fabric was superior to the Horses of their time? If any
one ask why Danby Cade was not as good a racer as any in the
kingdom, the jockey could not impute this defect to his blood; but
if it should be imputed to his want of proportion, surely it might
be held for a true and satisfactory reason. How many revolutions
of fame and credit, have all sportsmen observed in these HIGH-BRED
families.
Numberless are the examples of this kind which might be quoted,
but to account for this, one says, The blood is wore out for want
of a proper cross; another tells us, That after having been long
in this climate, the blood degenerates; but these reasons cannot
be true, because we see the off-spring of all crosses, and of the
most antient** families, occasionally triumphant over the sons of
the very latest comers, the error then will not be found in the
blood, or in the proper crossing; but the defect will be produced
by the erroneous judgment of mankind, in putting together the male
and female with improper shapes; and while we are lost and blinded
by an imaginary good, the laws of nature stand revealed; and we by
paying a proper attention thereto, and employing our judgment
therein, might wipe this ignis fatuus from the mind, and fix the
truth on a sure foundation.
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