AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 353 



that, while man was forbidden to covet his neighbor's 

 ox and his ass, no such provision was made with regard 

 to his horse. The horse, sir, has always been a type 

 and symbol of every thing proud, imperial, and aggres- 

 sive. He may submit to the hardships of poverty and 

 toil ; but he is most at home among the lordly and the 

 aristocratic. Nowhere in history, sacred or profane, is 

 he associated with the gentler and more lowly qualities 

 of man, or devoted to the truly useful service of life 

 alone. While all our other domestic animals performed 

 their part in the daily labor of society, and either bore 

 the priest to the temple, or were found worthy of 

 being offered up a sacrifice on the altar, the horse had 

 his ' neck clothed with thunder ; ' he smelled ' the bat- 

 tle afar off; ' his joy was in ' the thunder of the cap- 

 tains, and the shouting.' Never under any Christian 

 interpretation has he found his way into the best of 

 creation ; but through the Oriental imagery of the Mus- 

 sulman alone, responsive to the pseudo - divinity of 

 Mohammed, has he been elevated to his lofty position, 

 pretender that he is, among the beasts of the earth. 



'' It was an Arab chieftain, swelling with Mahometan 

 arrogance, bloated with Mahometan superstitions, gritty 

 with the sands of the desert, who set God to work 

 making a horse out of the south wind, and binding 

 * fortune on his mane,' and reposing 'riches in his 

 loins,' and making him with the 'sign of glory and 

 of happiness,' and then declaring to the misguided 

 Adam, who chose this tempestuous creature in prefer- 



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