GODOLPHIN AEABIAN. 811 



and his court; but, from their wild appearance, their restless and 

 haughty deportment, their lean and angular forms, rendered more 

 so by the fatigue of the voyage, they were received into the royal 

 stables with perfect indifference, and, subsequently, with contempt. 

 M. Sue accounts for this from the prevailing fancy of his majesty 

 for the great Norman horses, both for war and the chase, and 

 more especially for those bred in Sutfolk — short in the loins, well 

 knit together, going close to the ground, and termed thickset. As 

 the king's name is a tower of strength in v/ar, so in fashion his 

 taste is paramount, and these Barbary horses excited the greatest 

 raillery and scorn— their deep chests, their small mouths, their 

 beautiful, nervous, and bony forms, so typical of the character of 

 this famous race, and religiously preserved pure in the East, were 

 all lost* on king, courtiers, equerries, and grooms. 



" Of the eight Tunisian slaves sent from Africa by the Bey, 

 Agba alone remained, the other seven having returned to their na- 

 tive country. The poor mute was so attached to Scham that even 

 the natural affection for home was disregarded, and, though ex- 

 cluded from the royal stables, he hovered about their precincts for 

 the purpose of seeing his favorite whenever he was suffered to pass 

 the door, living on the charity of those who pitied his unhappy 

 condition. Since he had become the property of the wood- carrier, 

 the Moor had taken up his quarters in the shed for the sole pur- 

 pose of enjoying the society of the 'Barb, and obtained his food by 

 begging, for he (the carter) refused to encourage him, believing 

 that his witchcraft rendered the horse so vicious. He suffered him 

 to remain in the shed, as he was much amused to see the evident 

 affection subsisting between the mute, the horse, and the cat. On 

 his return home, Agba and Grimalkin were always in waiting, 

 the former squatting down disconsolately, with the cat curled up 

 by his side. On permitting him to giv^e the horse his food, the 

 Moor would rise up in ecstasy, embrace the animal, take his head 

 between his hands, jump on his back, then dismount, and creep 

 under him; by all of which endearments the horse seemed as grat- 

 ified as himself. He would whinny, and appear to talk to him, as 

 if rejoiced to see him. On the other hand, if the Moor was not in 

 the shed, he became furious, stamped with his feet, laid back his 

 ears, and attempted to attack the carter. On one occasion the 

 Moor was not in the shed, but returned when he was chastising 

 the horse, and was so exasperated that he seemed inclined to at- 

 tack him, bu^ he showed him his shoulder-of -mutton fist, and the 

 demonstration was sufficient. 



" When the Quaker, who had been struck with their mutual 

 attachment, told the Moor that he had purchased the horse, and 

 that both should acconijiany him to England, the poor fellow 

 showed the most extravagant joy, threw himself on his knees at 



