TACT AND GRADATION. 155 



proceedings tact and gradation, so that, for 

 example, the legs never give an impulse 

 that the hand is not able to take hold of and 

 govern at the same moment. I will make 

 this principle more clear by a short expla 

 nation. 



We will suppose a horse at a walk, em 

 ploying a force of forty pounds, which is 

 necessary to keep the pace regular, till the 

 moment when the opposition of the hand 

 and legs commences. By and by we begin 

 a slow and gradual pressure of the legs, 

 which adds ten pounds to the impulse of the 

 pace. As the horse is supposed to be per 

 fectly in hand, the hand will immediately 

 feel this passage of forces, and must then 

 make itself master of them to transfer them 

 to the centre. Meanwhile the legs will con 

 tinue their pressure, to the end that the 

 forces, thus driven back, may not return to 

 the focus which they left; for that would 



