2 THE HOUSE AND HIS RIDER. 



the birthright of every child born in a civilised land. 

 We fear that there has been little gratitude or hu- 

 manity evinced in our general treatment of the horse ; 

 and now that we rush along like the wind on the 

 wings of steam, we are perhaps in danger of still more 

 undervaluing his worth. But had we never known 

 his aid, how different far would have been the for- 

 tunes of mankind ! how hardly would it have fulfilled 

 its destiny, to " multiply and replenish the earth, and 

 subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, 

 and the fowl of the air, and over every living thing 

 that moveth upon the earth !" Unaided by the strength 

 and swiftness of this generous servant, men would but 

 partially and slowly have emerged from barbarism ; 

 at the most they would have congregated into tribes 

 and petty states, covering only as much ground as 

 might be' traversed in a day's march or two on foot; 

 and these would have been perpetually engaged in 

 war and rapine: but peace, order, plenty, knowledge, 

 and national power, could never have been esta- 

 blished or have made progress, so long as men, 

 divided by wide tracts of country, had no means of 

 rapidly communicating with each other, and of 

 uniting together for their mutual welfare. 



Neither sacred nor profane history informs us in 

 what country the horse was first domesticated, or 



