59 



of Waterloo. Thus the traveller George 

 Borrow, in his sketch of Tombland Fair, 

 Norwich, where from time immemorial a 

 show of stallions has been held at Easter : — 



" There was shouting and whooping ; weighing and 

 braying ; there w^as galloping and trotting ; fellows 

 with high-lows and white stockings — and with many 

 a string dangling from the knees of their tight-breeches 

 — were running desperately ; holding horses by the 

 halter, and in some cases dragging them along. 

 There were long-tailed steeds and dock-tailed steeds 

 of every degree and breed. There were droves of 

 wild ponies, and long rows of sober Cart Horses. 

 There were donkeys and even mules ; the last a rare 

 thing to be seen in damp misty England ; for the 

 mule pines in mud and rain, and never thrives so 

 well as when there is a hot sun above and a burning 

 sand below. There were — oh, the gallant creatures ! 

 I hear their neigh upon the w^inds ; there were — 

 goodliest sight of all — certain enormous quadrupeds, 

 only seen to perfection in our native isle ; led about 

 by dapper grooms ; their manes ribbanded and their 

 tails curiously clubbed and balled. Ha ! ha ! How 

 distinctly do they say, Ha ! ha ! " 



When Borrow wrote this he had seen 

 specimens of pretty nearly all the draught 

 horses in Europe : including all the grand- 

 fathers of all the Percherons and Normandy 

 carriage-horses. 



The old paintings and engravings, ex- 

 amples of which we have introduced as far 

 as possible in chronological order, possess 

 practical value to breeders as showing the 



