THE COACH-HORSE.] 



THE HOESE, AND 



[the COACn-HOllSB. 



it : but I assure you tlie case-hardening was no 

 ioke : some died under the operation, and 

 some did not ; but there never was a man who 

 tried it that it did not make him think of his 

 latter endy' 



The epoch from which we may date the 

 rapid advance in improvement as regards 

 every department of the road, is coeval with 

 tlie system of remodelling our highvTays upon 

 the plan of Mr. M'Adam. That the scheme 

 of road-making which bears the name of that 

 gentleman was not of his invention, all who 

 have travelled in Scotland and Ireland must 

 have known. Still we are indebted to him for 

 its introduction into this country, and for 

 many judicious innovations by which he 

 brouo-ht it to its present perfection. As the 

 facilities for locomotion improved, so did the 

 appliances to aid it. 



The call for increased speed upon the com- 

 mercial roads was afterwards answered on the 

 Birmingham line by the appearance of three 

 "Tallv-ho's," distinguished as the "Patent," 

 the "Independent," and the " Eclipse." Look- 

 ing back to the time they were at work — 

 their chronoraetrical regularity for half a score 

 years — their pace, and the style in which they 

 were worked through the country, and not at 

 the ends alone, we shall hardly find anything 

 in the mail-coach line altogether more complete 

 than thev were. Awful forebodings attended 

 their starting : their speed was pronounced 

 suicidal, and the waste of human life that was 

 to result from it fearful to contemplate. But 

 tliese speculations all proved vain. The only 

 fatal accident we recollect occurring to any of 

 them, was the death of poor Peck, the guard, 

 who was killed by a fall off his coach while it 

 was standing still. 



In the way of fast-work, however, combined 

 with the fashion in which it was done, certainly 

 the pas must be given to the coaches which 

 were put on the Brighton road by Mr. Israel 

 Alexander. Of these there was but one opinion 

 expressed by such as possessed experience in 

 the coaching business, coupled with a wonder, 

 how, by having all England to choose from, it 

 was possible to get together such a lot of horses. 

 On this road the public found elegance com- 

 bined with speed. Taken all in all, Alexander's 

 *' Criterion," with a certain then noble marquis 

 for dragsman, was perhaps the most correct 

 102 



specimen of a stage-coach that has ever ap- 

 peared; but a vast deal of money was sacrificed 

 during the short reign that this concern kept 

 its place in the public eye. 



It is now time to speak of the carriage 

 horse. 



The Clevelands, and the powerful blood-like 

 carriage stock, bred in Yorkshire, and other 

 northern counties, came from the best of the 

 Norman mares, crossed by the Arab only, the 

 Persian blood being considered less likely to 

 throw stock combining symmetry and sub- 

 stance. In his magnificent work on The Illus- 

 trations of tlifi breeds of the Domestic Animals 

 of the British Islands, Professor Low says, 

 in reference to the Cleveland Bay, that "it is 

 the progressive mixture of the blood horses of 

 higher breeding with those of the common 

 race, that has produced the variety of coach- 

 horse usually termed the Cleveland Bay; so 

 called from its colour and the fertile district of 

 that name in the North liiding of Yorkshire, 

 on the banks of the Tees. About the middle 

 of the last century, this district became known 

 for the breeding of a superior class of powerful 

 horses, which, with the gradual disuse of the 

 heavy old coach-horse, became in request for 

 coaches, chariots, and similar carriages. The 

 breed, however, is not confined to Cleveland, 

 but is cultivated through all the great breed- 

 ing districts of this part of England. It has 

 been formed by the progressive mixture of the 

 blood of the race-horse with the original breeds 

 of the country. To rear this class of horses, 

 the same principles of breeding should be 

 applied as to the rearing of the race-horse 

 himself. A class of mares, as well as stallions, 

 should also be used, having the properties 

 sought for. The district of Cleveland owes 

 its superiority in the production of this beau- 

 tiful race of horses to the possession of a defi- 

 nite breed, formed not by accidental mixture, 

 but by continued cultivation. * * * * 

 Although the Cleveland Buy appears to unite 

 the blood of the finer with that of the larger 

 horses of the country, to combine action with 

 strength ; yet many have sought a further 

 infusion of blood of the finer, with that of the 

 larger horses of the country to combine action 

 with strength ; and others have sought a still 

 further infusion of blood nearer to the race-horse. 

 They are accordingly crossed by hunters, or 



