THE HORSE. 177 



of our curiosity and care, a race of creatures in 

 whose welfare we are interested next to our own. 



Of all the quadruped animals, the horse seems 

 the most beautiful : the noble largeness of his 

 form, the glossy smoothness of his skin, the 

 graceful ease of his motions, and the exact sym- 

 metry of his shape, have taught us to regard him 

 as the first, and as the most perfectly formed ; and 

 yet, what is extraordinary enough, if we examine 

 him internally, his structure will be found the 

 most different from that of man of all other qua- 

 drupeds whatsoever. As the ape approaches us 

 the nearest in internal conformation, so the horse 

 is the most remote ; * a striking proof that there 

 may be oppositions of beauty, and that all grace 

 is not to be referred to one standard. 



To have an idea of this noble animal in his 

 native simplicity, we are not to look for him in 

 the pastures, or the stables, to which he has been 

 consigned by man ; but in those wild and exten- 

 sive plains where he has been originally produced, 

 where he ranges without controul, and riots in all 

 the variety of luxurious nature. In this state of 

 happy independence, he disdains the assistance 

 of man, which only tends to servitude. In those 

 boundless tracts, whether of Africa or New Spain, 

 where he runs at liberty, he seems no way incom- 

 moded with the inconveniencies to which he is 

 subject in Europe. The continual verdure of 

 the fields supplies his wants ; and the climate, 

 that never knows a winter, suits his constitution, 



* Histoire Naturclle, Daubenton, vol. vii. p. 374. 

 VOL. II. M 



