616 THE HORSE. 



was the county of Lanark, otherwise termed Clydesdale. This 

 district, intersected in its whole extent by the river Clyde, 

 comprehends a large portion of that vast field of coal, to 

 which Scotland owes its existence as a manufacturing coun- 

 try; and contains within its bounds the city of Glasgow, 

 which, from a secondary town, has become, within the period 

 of less than a century, one of the most rich and populous 

 cities of the empire. The rapid and continuous increase of 

 this great manufacturing city, and the prodigious land-car- 

 riage in the rich mining district connected with it, created a 

 demand for horses of superior strength and size, for the pur- 

 poses of draught. The kind of carriage employed for the 

 transport of minerals and all kinds of goods, being the single- 

 horse cart, the horses required were those which should com- 

 bine with weight of body a considerable degree of muscular 

 activity. Those of the district have become, in an eminent 

 degree, adapted to the conditions required ; and, being inter- 

 mixed in blood, and formed on a common model, a breed has 

 been produced with well-defined characters. It is termed 

 the Clydesdale Breed, because the individuals are mainly 

 derived from the district of that name. 



The Clydesdale breed of horses has a manifest affinity 

 with the Black Horse of Holland and the Netherlands ; and 

 universal tradition refers to an importation, at an early pe- 

 riod, of a number of Flanders stallions to the neighbourhood 

 of Hamilton, by one of the Dukes of that name. That a mix- 

 ture between the Black Horse of the Continent and the native 

 race took place at some period, cannot be doubted ; and there 

 is good reason to believe, that the tradition is well founded, 

 which refers this national boon to the Noble House of Ha- 

 milton, whose extensive domains embrace the district the 

 most early noted for the production of this race of horses. 

 But it may likewise be believed, that horses from different 

 sources have been, from time to time, introduced into the 

 populous mining and manufacturing district of this part of 

 Scotland, and that thus the breed of Clydesdale is really of 



