HISTORY. 493 



have been taken by successive Governments of France to 

 improve the breeds of native horses. This was a favourite 

 object of Napoleon, who introduced considerable numbers of 

 Arabians by the way of Germany. But the enormous de- 

 struction of horses by war in the Revolutionary and Imperial 

 armies, and the necessity of resorting to every race of the 

 tributary countries around for cavalry, have greatly retarded 

 the improvement of the races of France. Since the peace, 

 the high-bred horses of England have been much sought for, 

 as possessing the qualities in which the French horses are 

 supposed to be deficient, namely, bone and action. 



Germany is a country which, in every known age, has 

 produced numerous herds of horses. The native horses of 

 Germany vary with the fertility of the countries which pro- 

 duce them : but generally, Germany is a country productive 

 of the grasses and corn, and the horses are large and fitted 

 for the exercise of physical strength, but deficient in agility 

 and flcetness. They are well suited for heavy cavalry, for 

 which the Germans "have always been noted in modern wars ; 

 and, during the middle ages, the larger horses were especially 

 cultivated for the knights and heavy-armed horsemen of the 

 time. Lighter horses have also been introduced from the 

 Ukraine, and other countries to the eastward. The largest 

 horses in Germany are found in Holstein, Mecklenburg, and 

 other countries rich in the grasses, on the shores of the Bal- 

 tic, and the valleys of the great rivers. The same race of 

 heavy horses extends to the Danish dominions of the Conti- 

 nent, which have long supplied the other parts of Europe 

 with coach-horses. In Holland and Flanders the same 

 kinds of horses exist, but of yet more bulky and clumsy 

 form : shewing that when the climate is moist, when the 

 grasses are abundant, and when artificial food is largely sup- 

 plied, the Horse assumes that grossness of form which in- 

 creases his powers of mere strength, but diminishes his speed, 

 and capability of active exertion. The Horse of the nor- 

 thern marshes of Germany was probably that which gave 



