684 QUADRUPEDS. 



load thirteen measures, which at a moderate computation of 70 

 pounds each, will amount to 910; a weight superior to that which 

 the lesser sort of camels will bear : this will appear less surprising, 

 as these horses are by degrees accustomed to the weight; and the 

 distance they travel no greater than to and from the adjacent 

 hamlets. 



Our cavalry, in the late campaigns, (when they had an opportu- 

 nity) shewed, over those of our allies, as well as of the French, a 

 great superiority both of strength and activity : the enemy was 

 broken through by the impetuous charge of our squadrons ; while 

 the German horses, from their great weight and inactive make, 

 were unable to second our efforts ; though those troops were ac- 

 tuated by the noblest ardour. 



The present cavalry of this island only supports its ancient glory; 

 it was eminent in the earliest times ; our scythed chariots, and the 

 activity and good discipline of our horses, even struck terror into 

 Caesar's legions : and the Britons, as soon as they became civilized 

 enough to coin, took care to represent, on their money, the animal 

 for which they were so celebrated. It is now impossible to trace 

 out this species; for those which exist among the indigence of 

 Great Britain, such as the little horses of Wales and Cornwall, the 

 hobbies of Ireland, and the shelties of Scotland, though admirably 

 well adapted to the uses of those countries, could never have been 

 equal to the work of war ; but, probably, we had even then a larger 

 and stronger breed in the more fertile and luxuriant parts of the 

 island. Those we employ for that purpose, or for the draught, are 

 an offspring of the German or Flemish breed, meliorated by our 

 soil, and a judicious culture. 



The English were ever attentive to an exact culture of these ani- 

 mals ; and in very early times set a high value on their breed. The 

 esteem that our horses were held in by foreigners, so long ago as the 

 reign of Athelstan, may be collected from a law of that monarch 

 prohibiting their exportation, except they were designed as presents. 

 These must have been the native kind, or the prohibition would 

 have been needless; for our commerce was, at that time, too limited 

 to receive improvement from any but the German kind, to which 

 country their own breed could be of no value. 



But when our intercourse with the other parts of Europe was en- 

 larged, we soon laid hold of the advantages this gave of improving 

 our breed. Roger de Bellesme, Earl of Shrewsbury, is the first 

 that is on record : he introduced the Spanish stallion into his estate, 



