artist perpetuates what the writer from sheer 

 famiHarity ignores ; and for this reason the 

 works of old painters have been laid under 

 contribution in the present survey of the 

 Great Horse breed. 



THE CHARIOT HORSE OF THE ANCIENT 

 BRITONS. 



No very profound enquiry is needed to 

 furnish us with a starting point in the his- 

 tory of the Great Horse. We need go no 

 farther than our old school friend Caesar, and 

 examine his account of the forces which 

 resisted his descent upon England in the 

 year 55 r..c. — nearly two thousand years ago. 

 The following familiar passage (from Cam- 

 den's translation, Britannia. 4th edition) 

 throws valuable light on the stamp of horse 

 which was employed in warfare by the early 

 Britons : — 



" Most of them use chariots in battle. They first 

 scour up and down on every side, throwing their 

 darts ; creating disorder among the ranks by the 

 terror of their horses and noise of their chariot w^heels. 

 When they have got among the troops of [their 

 enemies'] horse, they leap out of the chariots and 

 fight on foot. Meantime the charioteers retire to a 

 little distance from the field, and place themselves in 

 such a manner that if the others be overpowered by 

 the number of the enemy, they may be secure to make 



