JUJO 



THE MODERN SYSTEM 



season before last, by Mr. Israel Alexander. 

 1 never heard but one opinion of them expressed 

 by such as possessed experience in the coaching 

 business, coupled with a wonder, how, by 

 having all England to choose from, it was 

 possible to get together such a lot of Horses. 

 On that road poor Stepiienson had taught them 

 that public travelling and elegance were to be 

 combined ; perhaps his idea upon that head 

 was too recherche. Taken all in all Alex- 

 ander's " Criterion," with a certain (then) 

 Noble Marquis for dragsman, was quite the 

 most correct specimen of a stage-coach that 

 has ever come under my notice. Of course, a 

 vast deal of money was sacrificed during the 

 short reign that this concern ruled the roast. 



HORSES IN ANCIENT TIMES. 



There is, we believe, pretty good evi- 

 dence for supposing that, even at the time 

 of the Trojan war, Horses were but rare 

 animals in Greece, and were possessed only 

 by princes or great men, who employed them, 

 not for the purposes of husbandry or draught, 

 but for the ornamental displays of war and 

 chariot-drawing, as the proud and distinctive 

 accompaniment of royalty alone. In Judea, 

 Horses were, till the days of Solomon, very 

 rare. Egypt is always described in the Old 

 Testament as the land of Horse. The earliest 

 notice of the Horse is in the book of Genesis 

 (chap, xlvii. 17,) where Joseph is said to have 

 given the Egyptians " bread in exchange for 

 their Horses." In the very minute enumera- 

 tion of the cattle stores of Abraham, Isaac, 

 Esau, Laban, Job, &c., in the Book of Gene- 

 sis, though there is a superabundance of other 

 quadruped property, no mention whatever is 

 made of Horses. Neither in the fourth or 

 tenth commandments are Horses noticed with 



the other working animals. In the enumera- 

 tion, however, of the Egyptian cattle-property 

 affected by the murrain, Horses are mentioned 

 in precedence of the rest : " Behold the hand 

 of the Lord i.s upon thy cattle which is in the 

 field, iipon the horses, upon the asses, upon 

 the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the 

 sheep," Exod. ix. 3. In like manner, in the 

 excellent and very particular description given 

 by Theocritus of the quadruped stock of An- 

 gias, the Child of the Sun, who lived in the 

 Peloponesus, Horses find no place. Even 

 during the Trojan war, these animals were 

 only in the retinue of princes, and were always 

 associated with cattle, or with the glorious 

 forthcoming of kings. Accordingly, we find 

 that in all the first descriptions of that animal, 

 and particularly in that sublime and all-sur- 

 passing one in the Book of Job, he is depicted 

 with beauty and majesty, as the war-steed 

 alone. Homer speaks of him always with 

 dignity and admir tion ; and it is apparent, 

 that, in his conceptions, an additional respect- 

 ability is conferred upon his princes and his 

 war-grooms, by the title which he bestows 

 upon them of " horse-tamers " and " horse- 

 whippers," a contemptible commendatiota, 

 according to our ideas, associating, as we 

 inevitably do, these epithets with the persons 

 and mean employments of grooms of the stable 

 and horse-jockeys." The ancient poets and 

 ancient people must have connected, however, 

 beauty, majesty, and sublimity, with their idea 

 of that animal ; not only from his noble shape 

 and gallant appearance, but from his singu- 

 larity, and consequently high price ; his being 

 the friend, as it were, and attendant of 

 princes ; his being the terrible, yet graceful, 

 accompaniment of war ; and his being never 

 seen, as in our modern times, degraded to the 



