212 THE HISTORY AND ART 



prove a mod powerful excitement to felf-intereft and 

 V cnaulation ; too powerful perhaps for tlie advancement 

 of that plan which they were originally intended to 

 promote : for, as if mere fpecd were the only requifite 

 in an horfe, all other properties and qualities have 

 been facrificed to it ; and it is almoft incredible to 

 what a degree of fwifcnefs the firft-rate breeds of this 

 kingdom have been Urained and wrought up ; but, 

 lofmg on one hand what they gain on the other, and 

 -jDeakened as refined, they become lefs ferviceable from 

 the excefs of the very quality which is reckoned their 

 chief recommendation : whereas, if ftrength and fpeed 

 were to go hand in hand, and join in due proportion, 

 the nation would foon fee a race of horfes capable of 

 fliining upon other ground than a Green Carpet, and 

 equal to every fervice which ufe or pleafure can de- 

 mand. Neverthelefs, however highly gifted the horfes 

 may be, there are duiies incumbent alfo lipon thofe 

 who are to ride them, without an attention to which, 

 all the talents of the horfe, inllead of being called forth 

 and improved, will be cruQied, extinguiflied, and 

 nature have been kind in vain. — Thefe Duties are 

 comprehended under one head, the Art of Riding. 

 This art has fo long been negleded and defpifed, that 

 one would almoft be prompted to conclude that a 

 fatality had conftantly attended it in this country ; 

 favoured as it is with every advantage for breed- 

 ing, nourifhing, and procuring the fmeft horfes of 

 all forts J and with a nobility and gentry, whofe 



love 



