{"product_id":"2940016110493","title":"A Dissertation on Horses","description":"A DISSERTATION ON HORSES\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhoever supposes that Mess. Heber and Pond, or even Mr. John\u003cbr\u003eCheney, were the first who published accounts of Horse-racing,\u003cbr\u003ewill find himself much mistaken, for there lived others above a\u003cbr\u003ehundred years before them, who not only published accounts of\u003cbr\u003eHorse-racing, but acquainted us with the history of the wrestling,\u003cbr\u003ebacksword-playing, boxing, and even foot-racing, that happened in\u003cbr\u003etheir days; and from them we learn also who were the victors, and\u003cbr\u003ehow the racers came in.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmongst these, lived a man whose name was Homer, a blind or\u003cbr\u003eobscure man (for they are synonimous** terms) who occasionally\u003cbr\u003epublished his book of sports, and to him we are obliged also for\u003cbr\u003ethe pedigree of many Horses that were esteemed the best in his\u003cbr\u003etime. This man was said to be poor, in little esteem, and to\u003cbr\u003etravel about the country to sell his books; but though his\u003cbr\u003ecircumstances were very low, his understanding, it seems, was not,\u003cbr\u003efor he always took care to pay his court to the great personages\u003cbr\u003ewherever he came, and to flatter them in the blood of their\u003cbr\u003eHorses. But though he was little esteemed in his life-time, yet\u003cbr\u003ehis book of pedigrees and genealogy of Horses was thought so\u003cbr\u003euseful, that he was greatly honoured for it after his death. And\u003cbr\u003ewhat is more strange, though the place of his nativity was\u003cbr\u003eunknown, and no country would receive him as a member of their\u003cbr\u003ecommunity when living, yet when dead, many nations contended for\u003cbr\u003ethe honour of it; but whatever arguments each country may produce\u003cbr\u003efor the support of its claim, nothing is more evident than that he\u003cbr\u003ewas an Englishman; and there is great reason to believe he was\u003cbr\u003eborn somewhere in the North, though I do not take upon me to say\u003cbr\u003eit absolutely was so. His partiality however, to that part of the\u003cbr\u003ekingdom, is manifest enough, for he pretended to say, that a good\u003cbr\u003eracer could be bred in no place but the North; whereas, late\u003cbr\u003eexperience has proved that to be a very idle notion. But as the\u003cbr\u003enorthern gentlemen were the first breeders of racing Horses, so it\u003cbr\u003eis very probably they were also the first subscribers to his book,\u003cbr\u003eand then we shall find his partiality might arise, either from his\u003cbr\u003egratitude to these gentlemen, or from its being the place of his\u003cbr\u003enativity, or perhaps from both.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47101239689456,"sku":"2940016110493","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940016110493","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}