THE HORSE. 



THE HORSE 



THE spirited picture of the war-horse in the book of Job is worthy of 

 the pen of inspiration ; but to appreciate its correctness, we must not 

 look at him in the pasture or the stable, merely, to which he is con- 

 signed by man, but in those wild and extensive plains, where he has 

 been originally produced, where he ranges without control, and 

 riots in all the variety of luxurious nature and also in the field of 

 battle, where his native fire and energy are called forth, and excited 

 into action, by the clang of arms, and the blasts of trumpets. 



The horse is universally allowed to be the most beautiful of all 

 die quadruped animals ; the noble largeness of his form, the glossy 

 smoothness of his skin, the graceful ease of his motions and the ex- 

 act symmetry of his shape, have taught us to regard him as the 

 first, and as the most perfectly formed ; and yet what is extraordi- 

 nary enough, if we examine him internally, his structure will be 

 found the most different from that of man of all other quadrupeds 

 whatsoever. As the ape approaches us nearest in internal con- 

 formation, so the horse is the most remote ; a striking proof that 

 there may be oppositions of beauty, and that all grace is not to be 

 referred to one standard. 



It is not possible to determine the country from which the horse 

 originally came: that it was from the East, however, seems highly 

 probable, since the colder climates do not so well agree with his 

 constitution, and also because the most beautiful, generous, swift, 

 and persevering of all horses in the world, are found in Arabia and 

 Persia. 



