XL] THE HbRSE AND HIS STABLE. 12D 



canter may be allowed; but if hard and uneven, a 

 moderate trot at most. One hour's gallop " on such 

 ground would do the soundest horse irremediable mis- 

 chief. Those who boast of having gone such a distance 

 in such a time, on the ground supposed, show ignorance 

 or inhumanity. Such feats require cruelty only, not 

 courage. Nay, they are performed most commonly by 

 the very horsemen who are too cowardly or too unskilful 

 to dare to trust their horse with his foot on the elastic 

 turf, or to stand with him the chances of the hunting- 

 field. And such is the inconsistency of human nature, 

 that they are performed by persons who would shudder 

 at the sight of the bleeding flank of the race -horse, or 

 who would lay down with disgust, and some expression 

 of maudlin, morbid humanity, the truly interesting nar- 

 rative of that most intrepid and enduring of all gallopers, 

 Sir Francis Head. But compare the cases. In the case 

 of the race-horse, his skin is wounded to urge him to his 

 utmost exertion for a few seconds, from which in a few 

 minutes he is perfectly recovered, and ready, nay eager, 



