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* * * * * Jjs 



With what impatient joy he hears, from far. 



The shrill-tongued clarion speak the coming war! 



Gods'! with what transport he beholds the fields 



Bristling with pninted spears, and serried shields ! 



Thro' the long ranks he darts a fearless gaze, 



Nor winks to meet the armour's steely blaze. 



Well is he skilled his rider's voice to know. 



When to stand firm, and when to charge the foe. 



Dauntless he mo\es beneath th' embattled tower. 



Where burns the siege, where smites the arrowy shower. 



When locking targe on targe the foemen spread 



The wing-like shield of safety o'er their head. 



Aloft in air a seven-fold plain is raised. 



Art's sage device, with boss on boss emblazed ; 



Beneath the solar fires it flashes bright. 



And the sky blazes with reflected ligiit. 



Various perfections of tlie horse — his docility — affection for his 

 master, and regret for his loss when he falls in battle : — this has 

 sometimes proved strong enough to burst the chains of nature, and 

 make him express his grief in articulate sounds. He can fly 

 over the standing corn without bending it, and over the billows 

 of the deep without wetting his hoof. He bore the hero who 

 slew the Chima?ra beyond the skies, and seated a king on the Per- 

 sian throne. What may seem most surprising in his character is 

 his insuperable abhorrence of all incestuous intercourse. A certain 

 king's horses were all swept away by a plague, except one mare 

 and her foal, from which he hoped to restore the loss ; after many 



