14 



over the line of tlie vest buttons," in Frederick 

 the Great's time, to that of " fixing the chin and 

 pointing the toes" of the present day, all remedies 

 have, in regard to marching, been only more or 

 less unsuccessful; even the device of a limber 

 trigger has not ensured success to what may have 

 been a good aim; a "loose hold of the gripe" still 

 allows the sabre to come down on its flat ; and the 

 various shirkings acquu-ed for eluding the shocks 

 from the horse's motion give only a laboured firm- 

 ness of seat, not even attaining the point of pre- 

 venting an uneven riding on the two sides of the 

 saddle, that chief cause of the giving out of cavalry 

 horses on long marches. Still less has it given 

 ability for the nice perpendicular change of the 

 rider's weight from one seat bone to the other, 

 which forms one of the most important of the four 

 *' aids " that give the power of controlling one's 

 horse. 



The motions of the musket-manual are, probably, 

 based on the manner in which some perfectly 

 formed man went through with it, but experience 

 has shown that, for the generality of recruits, its 

 exact execution^ is simply impossible ; and, so far 



* The last external sign of a laboured, and therefore imperfect, 

 execution is a twitching ot the corners of the mouth. How few can 

 suppress more obvious proofs! 



