THE WONDERS OF THE HORSE, RECORDED IN ANECDOTES, AND INTERSPERSED WITH POETRY. SELECTED BY JOSEPH TAYLOR, COMPILER OF THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE For beauty, courage, and heroic deeds, London: Printed by J. Gillet, Crown-court, Fleet street, FOR WILLIAM DARTON, JUN. 58, HOLBORN HILL, AND TO BE HAD OF ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS. 1813. [Price Half a Crown.] SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE HORSE. "THE most noble conquest ever obtained by man, was over this proud and spirited animal, which shares with him the fatigues of war and the glories of battle. The horse, not less intrepid than his master, sees danger, and de fies it; he inures himself to the din of arms; he delights in it, seeks it, and is animated with an ardour equal to that of man. He also shares with his master in the pleasures of the chace, the course, and tournaments: but his docility being equal to his courage, he is not carried away by impetuosity; but checks its impulses, 4 SHORT DESCRIPTION and not only submits to the hand of the rider, but seems even willing to consult his desires. Ever obedient to the impressions he receives, he darts forward, slackens his pace, or stops as they happen to indicate he renounces his very being, and exists merely by the will of another, which he frequently anticipates, and by the celerity and precision of his motions, at once expresses and executes. He feels as much as is desired, and performs no more than the rider pleases; he gives himself up without reserve, and declines no service; exerts all his strength, and, that his obedience may be complete, will strain every nerve, till he even expires under his generous efforts. "Such is the horse, whose talents are improved, and his natural qualities perfected by art; from his birth he is carefully attended, exercised, and fitted for the service of man; his education commences with the loss of his liberty, and is completed by restraint. The servitude of these animals is so universal and perpetual, that we seldom see them in their natural state. When employed, they are loaded with harness: in the seasons of rest. they are not entirely free from shackles: and even in the fields and pastures they carry the badges of slavery, and frequently bear the cruel marks of labour and pain. Their mouths dis figured with furrows, occasioned by the bit; their sides deformed with ulcers or cicatrices, from the spur; their hoofs perforated with nails, and their attitudes, by the continued pressure of the harness, cramped and constrained; even those whose servitude is of the easiest kind, being kept chiefly for shew and magnificence, and whose gilded chains are not so much intended for an ornament to them, as to display the opulence of their master, are stil more disgraced by the elegance of their foretop, |