INTRODUCTION 7 



from Arabian stallions, and the genealogy faintly 

 extends to our hunters. The strength and courage 

 of our draught horses are derived from those of Ger- 

 many, Flanders, and Holstein. The British cavalry 

 was remarkable even in the time of Julius Caesar, 

 yet we know not what was the primitive breed. 



Fabulists have accounted for the original birth of 

 the horse in two ways : first, that Neptune created 

 him by a stroke of the earth with his trident ; and, 

 secondly, that he was begotten of the wind. These 

 are grand and poetical ideas : but what Neptune 

 had to do with horses, unless it were with the hippo- 

 campi, or sea-horses, I am at a loss to imagine : and 

 although it appears he took one of his names from his 

 skill in breaking them, yet I never hear of the relation 

 between them but I think of the Irishman and the 

 horse marines. Fabulists, painters, and poets, however, 

 do not stop here ; and although Noah is said to have 

 refused a passage in the ark to the mule, they are not 

 satisfied till they surpass Nature, and attempt to unite 

 in one figure what she has wisely divided between 

 two. By destroying nature, they substitute infirmi- 

 ties ; and, however beautiful their centaur, their 

 Pegasus, their satyr, their dolphin, or their mermaid 

 may appear in a picture or a poem, they would cut a 

 sorry figure were they realised : and I have always 

 been of opinion, that a brawny young fellow, stark 

 naked, with a huge pair of wings on his back, might 

 [tali auxilio) just as soon be taken for a devil as an 

 angel. In this manner they have deformed and dis- 

 honoured both man and horse, by creating a centaur ; 



