24 
THE HORSE. 
THE HUNTER. 
Racer, in whom this character may be sacrificed for speed. To describe the Hunter, indeed, is merely to describe a well-formed 
horse, in which exists that harmony of parts which consists with- the best exercise of the powers of the animal. The perfect 
English Hunter is beyond a question the finest variety of horse that exists in any country, combining in a yet happier proportion 
than the Race-Horse the lightness of the horses of the warmer regions with the strength of the ancient races of Europe. If we 
compare the Hunter in his conformation with the Race-Horse, we shall find him inferior in the characters which indicate the 
power of speed, but far excelling in those which show the adaptation of the animal to useful services. The vast number of these 
beautiful horses that are found in this country, not merely employed for the chase, but for the saddle, for military chargers, and for 
chariots and the lighter carriages with which the country abounds, excite the admiration of strangers, greatly more even than 
the exciting spectacle of the race-course, and manifest in a more obvious manner the perfection to which the cultivation of the 
Horse has been carried amongst us. It is a truth, that it is this class of horses which is principally sought for by foreign agents, 
and that for many years past a great and silent drain of them has been taking place to other countries. Foreign dealers and 
agents are constantly looking out for superior mares and stallions of this class. We hear of the thoroughbred horses that are 
carried off, but we are unsuspicious of the vast extent to which, under the unnoticed operations of common trade, the exportation 
of the most useful horses of all is continually taking place. It is certain that it is to this cause that is to be ascribed the difficulty 
which is everywhere complained of, in procuring good horses for the saddle. The mares on which the breed depends being re¬ 
moved, the market ceases to be supplied as before. No remedy exists for this evil but that increase of the price which shall 
render the home market more profitable than the foreign, and the exciting of public attention to the value and importance of 
the class of horses, which we are suffering to escape from us. We may be assured, that the race of true Hunters, if ma¬ 
terially diminished or injured in their characters, will not without great difficulty be restored. A simple cross between a 
thoroughbred horse and a common mare may produce a good individual, but this is very different from that progressive change 
by which a class of characters can be communicated and rendered permanent, and a true breed formed. It may be believed that, 
while Britain preserves the opulence of a great commercial and manufacturing country, the wealth of the inhabitants will give 
encouragement to the production of the best horses, as well as of every thing else which the wants of such a community call for; 
but horses with the properties required will not start up at the command even of wealth, and we must take the means to preserve 
the properties which ages of diligent cultivation have communicated to our horses, if we design to preserve them in the most 
perfect state. While horsemanship is pursued amongst us, as a pleasing and exhilarating exercise, and while the superior class 
of saddle-horses is in request for the luxury of the lighter equipages, it may be believed that there will always exist a great de¬ 
mand for the races of horses combining strength, action, and speed. But it is for the Hunting-field that a large part of the supply 
will be required, and therefore it is to be desired that this elegant, manly, and popular amusement should be so conducted as to 
aid in the maintenance and improvement of that fine race of horses which is rendered subservient to it. 
The practice of the modern Hunting-field differs essentially from the methods of pursuing game adopted in former times in 
this country, or in others where the larger beasts of chase abound. The dogs employed in the modern chase are a variety of a 
race distinguished from the most ancient times by following their prey by the scent, hunting in concert, and employing the voice 
in the manner of certain wild dogs, for the purpose of cheering their fellows or terrifying their victims. The race of dogs is divided 
into numerous varieties, as the Blood-hound, so named from its being erroneously supposed to follow its victim by the track of 
blood; the Stag-hound, from its being employed to follow the footsteps of deer; the Harrier, the Beagle, and others of 
smaller size, used for the chase of the lesser game. All the varieties of this race are distinguished by the great expansion of 
the nasal organ, and the exquisite sense of smell with which they are endowed. They are able to follow the track of their 
prey by the odour left on the earth, and on the plants with which it is covered. They can distinguish the different kinds of 
game by their effluvia, and can be readily taught by discipline to pursue any one kind of quarry and disregard the others. 
In every age we read of this race of dogs, and of the diversion of their natural instincts to the uses of the hunter. In our 
own country they were employed from the earliest times in the pursuit of the wolves, deer, and other wild animals with which the 
woods and wastes of the country were filled. But, besides the races of dogs which hunted by the scent, our ancestors, in the man¬ 
ner of all the earlier nations of Europe, employed different varieties of a race of dogs which hunted solely by the eye, and ran 
down their prey by swiftness of foot. Of this race is the great Deer-hound, of which remnants only now exist in this country, and 
the fleet and graceful modern Grey-hound. This race of dogs was almost always employed, in conjunction with the true hound, 
in the ancient hunting of this country. In the practice of the modern chase, the swift races of dogs, the Celeres of former 
writers, are never employed along with the true hounds to run down the game. 
Of the kinds of hunting pursued in this country, that of the Stag, Cervus elephas, came to be regarded as the most noble, and 
was eagerly practised when other kinds of game had become scarce. During the reigns of the Norman Kings, the preservation of 
