390 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY 



and service ; he facilitates and lessens the labours of 

 the field ; he transports burdens, and man himself, to 

 the most distant parts, with certainty, celerity, and 

 ease ; he is ever the faithful and obedient servant of 

 his master. His form, sagacity, and temper, have 

 been most admirably and wisely adapted for our use ; 

 he is fitted in an eminent degree to fill a most im- 

 portant part in the scale of being. 



The horse is framed with such a pliability of 

 physical structure and constitution,, that man may 

 mould him to the form or bulk best fitted for the 

 particular service in which he is to be employed. 

 Whether we contemplate the powerful and symmetrical 

 structure of his frame, the elegance of his limbs, 

 evincing strength and speed in their movements ; 

 the delicacy and glossy sleekness of his skin ; his 

 large and sparkling eyes, which either beam with mild 

 intelligence, or flash with energetic fire ; or the docility 

 and tractability of his disposition, we cannot fail to 

 regard him as one of the noblest of animated beings. 

 In addition to these qualities, he possesses the most 

 intrepid courage ; he has been from most remote 

 times the bearer of man in the field of carnage, where 

 he fearlessly meets every danger ; the most appalling- 

 discharges of musketry and the thunders of a cannon- 

 ading, he faces with a fortitude as dauntless as that 

 of his rider, and seems even to enter into the spirit of 

 the attack. This has been his character from the 

 earliest ages ; for he is spoken of in Job, one of the 

 oldest books in the world, and, few will deny, one of 

 the best ever written, in the following powerful 

 language, which is amended from the common transla- 

 tion by my late learned friend Dr Scot, Professor of 

 Hebrew in the Colleo^e of St Andrews : — 



** Hast thou given spirit to the horse .^ Hast thou 



