218 HORSE AND MAN. 



is thought so grand and noble, is simply produced 

 by the attempts of the horse to shake the bit away 

 from the tortured corners of his mouth. 



It is pitiful in the ' season ' to go through the 

 Park, or to pass through the fashionable streets and 

 squares, and to see the sufferings which are endured 

 by horses. While being driven round the Park, 

 stopping at fashionable shops, exhibitions, at the 

 doors of their owners' acquaintances, or even at the 

 door of the Eoyal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty 

 to Animals, the horses may be seen undergoing this 

 horrible torture for hours together. 



The late Sir Arthur Helps put the point very 

 forcibly, but not more so than it deserved. He lays 

 the fault on the owner, who must be either ' utterly 

 unobservant of what he ought to know, or pompous, 

 or cruel.' He finishes as follows : — ' I observe the 

 equipages when the irrational tight bearing-rein is 

 used. I then look on the arms on the carriage, and 

 I know who are the greatest fools in London in the 

 upper classes. The bewigged brute and idiot of a 

 coachman of course thinks it a very fine thing to sit 

 behind these poor animals with their stuck-up heads; 

 but his master ought to know better. 



6 So ought his mistress.' 



I have often wondered to see ladies sitting in 

 their luxurious carriages, evidently ignorant of the 



