430 THE COMMON HORSE. 



speedy travelling as the English; and, consequently, 

 the attention of breeders has in no country been so 

 much directed to the attainment of the particular 

 shape and qualifications that are conducive to ac- 

 tion, as in Great-Britain. 



The utmost speed of an English trotter is con- 

 sidered to be a mile in about two minutes and 

 fifty-seven seconds; and this was performed some 

 years ago by Archer, a celebrated Horse, belonging 

 to Marsden the dealer. Horses have often been 

 known to trot sixteen miles in an hour, with toler- 

 ably heavy weights. Perhaps some Horses may be 

 able to trot eighteen miles within the hour, or ten 

 miles in half an hour; but very few are able to ex- 

 ceed this rate. Mr. Lawrence mentions an instance 

 of a Horse having trotted thirty-two miles, on the 

 road betwixt Stilton and Cambridge, with a weight 

 of about ten stone, in two hours; and it is said 

 that he could have gone thirty-four miles in the 

 given time. This Horse, which belonged to a per- 

 son of the name of Cartwright, was then very near 

 thirty years of age. The same writer speaks also 

 of a mare that trotted seventy-two miles in six 

 hours; and of another that trotted a hundred miles 

 in eleven hours and forty minutes*. With respect 

 to the greatest rate at which a Horse is able to 

 walk, it is believed that very few have been able to 

 exceed that of six miles within an hour. 



Lawrence on Horses, i. p. 130. 



GALLOWAYS. 



