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tion of Xerxes, the chariot of Jupiter was drawn by eight white 

 Nysfean Horses. The triumphal car of Roiniilus was drawn by tour 

 white Horses, the colour universally, chosen for grand and solemn 

 occasions. Livy estimates Horses of this colour among the usual 

 insignia of royalty, equally with the purple robes, armed guards, and 

 the diadem: it was also consecrated to the service of religion, and 

 the Romans supposed that white oxen were the most acceptable 

 sacrifice to the gods. From Tacitus, we learn, that the ancient 

 Germans dedicated certain white Horses to the service of their gods, 

 which Horses were exempt from all other labour but that of draw- 

 ing the sacred chariots, on occasions of religious solemnization. 



In the succeeding and Christian ages, both the nionarchs and the 

 popes shcAved the same partiality for the white Horse. In the grand 

 cavalcade which took place in London, on the occasion of the royal 

 prisoner, John of France, passing from Southwark, where he landed ; 

 in order to do the highest honour to the captive king, he was mounted 

 upon a white Horse of distinguished size and beauty, whilst his con- 

 queror, the Black Prince, rode by his side upon a black palfrey. The 

 popes, having assumed this imperial colour in the Horse, did not fail 

 to take the opportunity of granting indulgencies for its use, to bishops 

 and princes; and the King of Naples, previously to the late revolu- 

 tions, actually paid the annual tribute of a white Horse to the pope, 

 by way of acknowledgment, that he held his kingdom as a fief of 

 the Holy See. The King of Yemen, in Arabia, is mounted upon a 

 white Horse, on all public processions. Every Englishman has either 

 seen, or heard, of ' the good old white Horse of Hanover,' and of the 

 cream-coloured Horses in his Majesty's stables, which form sets for 

 the state-coaches, and from which chargers are taken for great occa- 

 sions. From the veneration in Avhich these white Horses had been 

 held, it is probable, that the Saxon and German Princes bore that 

 emblem upon their standards. A white Horse was the ensign of 

 Hengist and Horsa ; and among their illustrious descendants, the 

 Dukes of Brunswick, and Electors of Hanover, sovereigns of this 

 country, bear on their shields, a white Horse at full speed, without 



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