FRENCH BAD EIDERS. 301 



menon of the French, who excel us all in dancing, walk- 

 ing, and fencing, being the worst riders in Europe. 

 " In all other countries, a man, grasping more or less 

 firmly with his knees his saddle-flaps, allows his body 

 freely to partake of the motion of the horse, until, with 

 our best riders, the two, as they skim together over 

 rough ground, appear to form one animal. In France, 

 however, the rule is diametrically the reverse, for the 

 moment the horse begins to canter, the rider's legs be- 

 come like a pair of scissors astride an iron poker, and, 

 while they appear useless, his back assumes the shape 

 of a new moon. In fact, the French have no more seat 

 on a horse than a parched pea has on a shovel ; and as 

 they trot along, popping up and down at one pace, 

 while their fine English quadruped is boldly striding 

 onwards at another, I have constantly expected to see 

 even a dragoon trotting along with a despatch, hop, hop, 

 hop, hop over the tail to his mother earth. In short, 

 their uncomfortable appearance always reminds me of 

 the toast proposed by an inhabitant of the state of Mis- 

 sissippi ' Gentlemen, I give ye a high-trotting horse, 

 cobweb breeches, and a porcupine saddle, for the ene- 

 mies of our glorious institutions I ' ' In his ' Faggot 

 of French Sticks,' from which this is extracted, we learn 

 that Sir Francis had the honour of accompanying Louis 

 Napoleon, while President of the Eepublic, to a grand 

 review. " As soon as we passed the Bridge of Jena, the 

 President, who proverbially, in France, is l parfaite- 

 ment Ion cavalier,' started off in a gallop ; and accord- 

 ingly, between the troops drawn up in line, and whose 

 bands successively struck up as we reached them, we 

 had a scurry across the Champ de Mars which was 

 really quite delightful; indeed, my horse seemed so 

 pleased with it, that, had it not been for my curb-rein, 

 I believe, very much against my will, he would have 

 'come in first. '" 



Whether dining and riding with an emperor might 

 mollify our suspicions of Louis Napoleon we shall not 



