Ill] 



AND HISTORIC TIMES 



369 



went on so constantly that by the middle of the last century 

 the Life Guards were mounted on either three-quarters or half- 

 bred black horses. It is important to note that this large 

 infusion of North African blood was effected without any 

 change of colour, a fact which strongly corroborates my doctrine 

 that the black breeds of the world are the result of mixing the 

 African blood with that of the horses of Europe and Asia. 



Fm. 103. Shire Stallion, ' Stroxton Tom 1 .' 



The Black Horse, as improved by continuous infusion of 

 North African blood, thus kept his place in war, but his relation 

 who had not been so ennobled, after having been thrust from 

 his once proud post amidst the clash of arms and the blare 

 of trumpets in the van of a charging host, and when he seemed 

 destined for ever to serve his country only in the prosaic paths 

 of peace, has after two centuries been suddenly restored to his 



1 I am indebted to the Shire Horse Society for the fine photograph from 

 which my illustration is taken and for permission to reproduce it. 



R. H. 24 



