570 HISTORY OF THE 



on the noblest that the earth contains, had him 

 under my care, and was borne by him over hill 

 and dale, far outstripping the wings of the wind. 

 Was not this a change, such as might excite re- 

 flection even in the mind of a boy ?" 



The following description of what the author 

 calls the " grandeur of alarm" in the horse, is 

 particularly happy. 



" I once saw an instance of what may be called 

 the grandeur of alarm in a horse. In winter, 

 during short exercise, I was returning one evening, 

 on the back of a hunter, that was put in training 

 for the hunter's plate. There had been some little 

 rain, and the channel, always dry in summer, was 

 then a small brook. As I must have rubbed his 

 legs dry if wetted, I gave him the rein, and made 

 him leap the brook, which he understood as a 

 challenge for play, and beginning to gambol, after 

 a few antics he reared very high, and plunging 

 forward with great force, alighted with his fore-feet 

 on the edge of a deep gravel-pit, half tilled with 

 water, so near that a very few inches further he 

 must have gone headlong down. His first asto- 

 nishment and fear were so great, that he stood for 

 some time breathless and motionless : then e;ra- 

 dually recollecting himself, his back became 

 curved, his ears erect, his hind and fore leg in a 

 position for sudden retreat ; his nostrils from an 

 inward snort, burst into one loud expression of 

 horror ; and rearing on his hind legs, he turned 



