614 THE HORSE. 



Lincolnshire westward and southward. But, on crossing the 

 Humber to the north, a change appears in the form and cha- 

 racters of the ordinary horses of the country. The black 

 gives place to the brown and lighter colours, and the horses 

 become less bulky, and of a form more indicative of activity. 

 This change appears throughout Yorkshire, Durham, North- 

 umberland, and beyond the Tweed, and distinguishes, at a 

 glance, the northern breeds of the larger horses from the 

 slow and weighty Black Horse of the southern counties. 



When we compare the coasts of Britain with those of the 

 opposite continent, we find a striking similitude in their 

 geological formation, and in their animal and vegetable pro- 

 ductions. All along the British Channel, from Land's End 

 to the Straits of Dover, we have a country resembling, even 

 to the indentations of the coast, the countries of France from 

 Ushant to the Pas de Calais. Bending northward, the flat 

 alluvial countries of the eastern coasts of England correspond 

 in the closest degree with the low lands of Belgium and Hol- 

 land. The marshes of the Zuyder Zee seem to be repro- 

 duced in the fens of Lincoln, and in both localities the horses 

 resemble one another, even to the colour of the skin. Stretch- 

 ing, again, from the Humber northwards, the country in 

 England corresponds with the Danish dominions of Holstein, 

 Sleswick, and Jutland, and each locality produces horses 

 tall and strong, where circumstances favour the development 

 of their forms, of diversified colours, and differing from the 

 great horse of the marshes ; and we might pursue the paral- 

 lel until we reached the granitic mountains of Norway and 

 the Scottish Highlands. 



The country from the Tweed to the Humber, forming a 

 part of the ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumberland, 

 was early noted for the numbers and quality of its horses. 

 The Northumbrians, engaged in incessant forays and wars, 

 were distinguished as the most daring horsemen of the 

 Island ; and their horses are described as stout, agile, and 

 hardy. Durham, although it early became the patrimony of 



