SHIRE HORSES AT ISLINGTON 71 



exertion. The horse was very excited, but never ' lost 

 its head/ or showed the least inclination to shirk the 

 work. Its driver, or rather attendant, had taught it to 

 do this in four days, and the horse, though very large, 

 was only a four-year-old. But Lord Herbert of 

 Cherbury wrote the character of the ' great horse ' of 

 England more than two hundred years ago, and noted 

 that he was a creature ' made above all others for the 

 service of man/ Among other accomplishments, he 

 taught him to run at a figure dressed in bright armour, 

 and knock it over ' in the midst of a field.' 



