Class I. HORSE. 



periority both of strength and activity : the 

 enemy was broken through by the impetuous 

 charge of our squadrons ; while the German 

 horses, from their great weight, and inactive 

 make, were unable to second our efforts ; though 

 those troops were actuated by the noblest ardor. 



The present cavalry of this island only sup- Antient. 

 ports its antient glory ; it was eminent in the 

 earliest times : our scythed* chariots, and the 

 activity'!' and good discipline of our horses, even 

 struck terror into CcEsar^s legions : and the Bri- 

 tons, as soon as they became civilized enough to 

 coin, took care to represent on their money the 

 animal for which they were so celebrated. It is 

 now impossible to trace out the peculiar sort, for 

 those which exist among; the indi^encB of Great 

 Britain, such as the little horses of TVales and 

 Cormvall, the hobbies oilr eland, and the shelties 

 of Scotland, though admirably well adapted to 

 the uses of those countries, could never have 

 been equal to the work of war ; but probably 

 we had even then a larger and stronger breed in 

 the more fertile and luxuriant parts of the island. 

 Those we employ for that purpose, or for the 

 draught, are an offspring of the German or 



* Covinos vocant, quorum falcatis axibus utuntur. Pomp. 

 Mela, lib. iii. c. 6. 



f Ccesar. Com. lib. iv. Stralo. lib. iv. • '^-^^^i 'i-^.i., ■ x 



