10 PREFACE, 
foundation, therefore, would prove no positive novelty; but were such 
institutions more general, a necesssity now universally felt would be 
supplied, while the duty incumbent on mankind to conserve the lives 
of beings intrusted to their care would, in such structures, be grace- 
fully acknowledged and openly enforced. 
No man possessing a horse is willing the animal should perish. 
His interest clearly is in the prolongation of its life; and he would 
gladly part with some money rather than be reduced to the owner- 
ship of a carcass. That, however, which he wishes to have accom- 
plished he desires should be performed cheaply. Hospitals—snpposing 
such places existed, and were of different grades or of different scales 
of charges—would afford the best prospect of relief at the smallest 
remunerative cost. Still, any application to such establishments must 
of necessity prove a tax, the only known preventive against the visi- 
tation of which would be the exercise of a little humanity. 
A very slight expenditure of the last-named quality would save 
the equine race from a long list of ills which now are consequent 
upon mortal ignorance or upon human brutality. It is painful to 
reflect how many of those affections spoken of as equine disorders 
might be cheaply eradicated by the more reasonable treatment of the 
animal which man proverbially esteems to be his most hazardous 
property. 
Cruelty is a very extravagant indulgence. There are now living 
persons who merely treat their horses according to the dictates of 
reason, and whose stables are graced by working lives of an extreme 
age. When he last walked through the Royal Mews, the author was 
much gratified to behold several fine animals, in the full enjoyment 
of strength and of vigor, which had more than attained their twen- 
tieth year. 
It might prove nationally remunerative if all of her Britannic 
Majesty’s subjects would permit the creatures over which they exercise 
legal ownership to live and to labor for their natural terms of exist- 
ence. However, during the glorious days of post chaises, the horses 
for these vehicles generally cost £30, while, as an average, they ex- 
isted upon the road only two years. 
What a sacrifice of life and of money! Each horse cost the post- 
