224 THE PERFECT HORSE. 



best. The perfect type is the only fit type. Any 

 thing less than this is unworthy, — a lapse and falling-ofF 

 from the original standard as erected in the creation. 

 A horse was made for speed as truly as a bird was 

 made to fly ; and flight and speed become, therefore, 

 standards of appreciation and value. If a man objects 

 to speed, then why drive a horse at all ? Why not 

 take a donkey or a cow, and have done with it ? If 

 piety is compatible only with slowness of motion, then 

 a horse is no animal for a Christian to own anyway ; 

 for the nearer a horse approaches, as I conceive, to the 

 original type, and also the divine intention as embod- 

 ied in it, the more speedy he becomes. Beauty and 

 speed are therefore, as I conceive, legitimate objects 

 of desire and admiration ; and, since the horse embodies 

 these two characteristics in a greater degree than any 

 other domestic animal, it is a proof that the man is of 

 sound judgment, and lacketh not wisdom, who desires 

 to own a beautiful and fast horse. Indeed, a man that 

 does not love and desire such a creature seems to me 

 to be lacking in some essential elements of human 

 nature. Something was omitted in his construction, 

 which, being possessed, would have made him larger and 

 better. I do not object, therefore, either to fast horses, 

 as the phrase is, or to driving them fast within proper 

 restrictions, such as common sense and humane impulse 

 will naturally suggest ; nor do I see any reason why 

 gentlemen owners and breeders alike of fine horses 

 should not exhibit their paces and their rate of speed 



