was an Englishman; and there is great reason to believe he was
born somewhere in the North, though I do not take upon me to say
it absolutely was so. His partiality however, to that part of the
kingdom, is manifest enough, for he pretended to say, that a good
racer could be bred in no place but the North; whereas, late
experience has proved that to be a very idle notion. But as the
northern gentlemen were the first breeders of racing Horses, so it
is very probably they were also the first subscribers to his book,
and then we shall find his partiality might arise, either from his
gratitude to these gentlemen, or from its being the 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