ABSTRACT
In Anna Sewell's 1877 novel, the horse Black Beauty is saved by having been ‘well-bred and well-born’. His father had a ‘great name’ and his grandfather had twice won the Cup at the Newmarket races. After years of exploitation and mistreatment by his various owners Black Beauty is in danger of being sent to slaughter for dog-meat, but instead ends up in a second-hand horse sale, full of other old, broken-down and lame animals and their often poverty-stricken sellers and buyers. In this sad scene the gentleman farmer Mr Thoroughgood recognizes Black Beauty as another gentleman, probably a Thoroughbred, and takes him home to start a better life. ‘There's a deal of breeding about that horse’, says Mr Thoroughgood. 1
