CHAPTER III. 

 THE RACE-HORSE AND TROTTING-HORSE. 



THE RACE-HORSE — THE ENGLISH TURF — THE AMERICAN TURF — IMPORTED HORSES — THE TRC"- 

 TINO-HORSE— FLORA TEMPLE — STEVE MAXWELL — ST. JULIEN AND MAUD S. — THE NARRAGAN- 

 SETT PACERS — POCAHONTAS. 



" A S breeders of horses," Brehm remarks, " the English of the presenf 

 / \ day stand on a level with the Arabs." The horse, indeed, is 

 A. \. curiously connected with the history of England, the leaders of 

 the Anglo-Saxon invaders of Britain bearing, according to tradition, the 

 very equine names of Hengest (Stallion), and Horsa (Horse). Lappen- 

 berg, the historian, supposes that these names do not indicate individual 

 but the fact that the expedition was undertaken in obedience to an oracle 

 derived from the sacred horses which were kept for purposes of divina- 

 tion. Tacitus describes these sacred horses as being white ; the White 

 Horse was a favorite symbol of the Saxon, and on the Chiltern Hills in 

 Berkshire, England, by removing the green turf an enormous white 

 horse is still visible, cut on the slopes of the chalky hill. The figure has 

 most probably been unchanged from the time of the Saxon kings, and is 

 periodically renewed and cleaned with great ceremony. The " White 

 Horse " figures conspicuously in the coats of arms of the Princes of the 

 House of Hanover and Brunswick, and the sovereigns have always 

 affected on state occasions the use of cream-colored horses in their 

 royal chariots. The horses used by the Queen of England when she 

 opens Parliament, are descendants of a North German race, and may 

 probably be derived from those mentioned by the Roman historian as 

 dedicated to the gods, and endowed with the powers of prophecy. Most 

 of the superstitions connected with the horse have died away, but that 

 of the horseshoe remains as vigorous as ever, and this mysterious sym- 

 bol is seen everywhere nailed over doors, and has lately spread into the 

 domain of personal ornament. 

 54 



