William III was an enthusiastic horseman and lover of the menage horse. He built a riding-school, in which it pleased him to be an inspector of equestrian exercises. He also was a great supporter of the turf, and kept a magnificent stud of Oriental horses, and thus assisted in the gradual improvement in the breeds of horses that had been commenced by James I. During this reign the Byerley Turk was brought to this country. This animal was Captain Byerley's charger during William's wars in Ireland, and was the sire of Sprite, Black Hearty, Grasshopper, etc. Queen Anne gave every encouragement to horse-racing. She kept race-horses, which were entered for prizes in her own name; she added also several plates in different parts of the kingdom. The importation of Oriental horses had now become quite a mercantile pursuit. Numerous Barbs, Turks, and Arabs were landed on our shores, but the most conspicuous of them was the Darley Arabian, which was brought to this country from Aleppo in 1715, the year after George I came to the throne. This animal was the sire of Flying Childers, the fastest horse over a long distance that ever ran; that is if his record be correct, which asserts that he ran over a course at Newmarket, a distance of 3 miles 6 furlongs and 93 yards, in 6 minutes and 40 seconds, the Beacon course of 4 miles 1 furlong and 138 yards in 7 minutes and 30 seconds, and also could run a mile in a little over one minute. This remarkable record of speed may be too good to be true, but whether exaggerated or not, it is certain that this animal was the fastest horse of his day, and that from him the thoroughbred has derived a large proportion of its present excellence.

In 1725 another celebrated horse, the Godolphin Arabian, arrived in this country, and from him have descended most of the notable horses now on the turf. In tracing the descent of thoroughbred horses it will be observed that they emanate from three distinct sources: " The Darley Arabian, 1720, from whom descended Childers, Squirt, Marske, Eclipse, King Fergus, Hambletonian; the Byerley Turk, 1689, whence came Jig, Partner, Tartar, Herod, Highflyer, Sir Peter, Woodpecker, Buzzard ; and the Godolphin Arabian, 1725, whence came Cade, Matcham, Conductor, Trumpeter, Sorcerer, Dr. Syntax. From the first source our present stallions are Orlando, Wetherbit, Cossack, King Tom, Teddington, Touchstone, Stock-well, Voltigeur, and Rataplan. From the second, Sweetmeat, Alarm, Cowl, Flying Dutchman, Tadmor, Wild Dayrell; and from the Godolphin Arabian, Nutwith, West Australian, Sir Tatton Sykes, Tomboy, and Melborne. Wetherbit, Tomboy, and the Doctor are the eighth cross from the Arab; Bradsman, Touchstone, and Melborne the ninth; West Australian, Surplice, Voltigeur, Kingston, Chanticleer, and Fisherman the tenth; Cossack, Ignoramus, Pelion, Tadmor, Ellington, Longbow, are the eleventh generation." Florizel II, Persimmon, and Diamond Jubilee, three brothers by St. Simon out of Perdita II, bred by His Majesty King Edward VII, are among the living representatives of these famous sires. On the female side the royal mares consisted chiefly of importations of Barbs from the north coast of Africa when Tangiers was under the British flag, but many of them were English bred, and were selected because they had been successful performers on the turf. The late Admiral Rous was of opinion that the English race-horse has descended from "pure-bred Arabs", untainted by English blood, and whose pedigree might be traced for two thousand years - the true offspring of Arabia Deserta, - and the greater size and height that the produce of these animals attained to he ascribed to the climatic influence of "these damp, foggy islands", assisted by judicious management and good "pasture". But does our knowledge of the past history of the horse warrant us in accepting this assertion as a fact? Do not the writings of the Duke of Newcastle advise crossing with a fine English "mare"; and do not other sentences show that intermingling with different breeds was resorted to by our forefathers as the best means by which to improve the then existing British race-horse? The admiral attributes the superiority that the race-horse of the Stuart era obtained to our "damp, foggy climate", combined with good pasture and judicious management; and although he speaks of the first cross as producing our primary first-class race-horse, in the next sentence he asserts that the Turks, Barbs, and royal mares were pure Arabians, " pure Eastern exotics, without a drop of English blood in their veins".

If climate and good pasture caused all the improvement which it is allowed did occur, how was it that previously to the days of the Stuarts the benefits derived from climatic influence had not been recognized by the Tudors? If environment alone was capable of producing greater size in our equine races, what need had Henry VIII to pass a law ordering the destruction of small horses and "all unlikely tits", when the same "fog and damp" was ready to promote the same increase of size which we are asked to believe was the sole cause of the change? Every physiologist knows the benefit that arises from a "good cross of fresh blood". Almost all the breeds of domestic animals have been brought to their present excellence, not by continuous breeding in a direct line in the same family, but by judicious out-crossing, and it was by the adoption of this system at the outset that the British thoroughbred has been produced.

In 1618 Michael Barrett had noticed the benefit that arose from crossbreeding. He writes: "Although the Spanish jennet, and Irish hobby and the Arabian courser are held by Maister Blundeville and Maister Markham to be the chief for racing and neat action, there is the bastard stallion begotten by one of them on our English mares which doth exceed either of them in swiftness and toughness ".

Of course it is impossible at this distance of time to trace distinctly the pedigree of the horses and mares imported during the Stuart epoch, although it is certain that to these importations the superiority in our breeds is attributable. Some of the royal mares were purchased in Hungary, but Admiral Rous thinks the majority came from Morocco, and that the Barbs were brought during the sixth century from Arabia, when the Saracens overran and conquered Northern Africa. That all these were highly bred and were of Eastern origin cannot be doubted, and their introduction into this country resulted in the improvement of native breeds and in developing the British thoroughbred.