OUR SADDLE-HORSES. 61 



well's new Leicester sheep, so celebrated for 

 their extraordinary disposition to fatten, and 

 for their long wool. The pure breed of those 

 sheep soon became very delicate, and I am 

 confident that not one is now to be found in 

 the full integrity of Mr. Bakewell's blood. 

 Crossed, as they have been, by other flocks of 

 Leicesters, having less constitutional delicacy, 

 they rarely drop more than one lamb each, and 

 require a rich pasturage. 



The history, however, of our cattle is yet 

 more instructive than that of any other of our 

 domesticated animals which have been much 

 withdrawn from a state of nature, or from one 

 little removed from it. Such of our breeds of 

 cattle as have endured for any considerable 

 time, have been always reared, and continue 

 to be reared, on poor or indifferent pasturage. 



In our rich pasture districts, where our best 

 cheese is made, the cattle are soon forced up 

 to a large and unnatural size, and in conse- 

 quence lose, after a time, so much of their con- 

 stitutional vigour as to require frequent renova- 

 tion from fresh blood, from that of cattle which 

 remain in a more natural state. I do not 

 blame the course thus taken with the cattle in 



