302 ' HOESES ANCIENT AND MODERN. 



stop to consider. It so happens, however, that we do 

 not share in the admiration of Sir F. Head for the 

 " benevolent countenance" and "good heart" of this 

 inscrutable potentate to such a degree, at least, as to 

 deem it safe to intrust our liberties to the forbearance of 

 the lord of so many legions of the most impulsive and 

 fearless soldiers in Europe ; and therefore, instead of 

 following Sir Francis to the hunting-field, and bringing 

 before our readers his graphic sketch of a u meet," and 

 his many wise and humorous remarks on " the horse 

 and his rider," when engaged in a sport which calls 

 forth so remarkably the characteristics of both, we turn 

 to the chapter on " Military Horse-Power." The suc- 

 cess of an army in the field, most people fancy, mainly 

 depends upon the attention paid to the victualling de- 

 partment. Of course, with little food in his stomach, 

 the soldier has little stomach for hard fighting and long 

 marches. And if unfit for long and rapid marches, an 

 army is comparatively useless, for, according to Marshal 

 Saxe, " its arms are of less value than its legs." The 

 destructive power of the army has been amazingly in- 

 creased, but at the expense of its activity ; so that a 

 European, like an East Indian army, often finds it easier 

 to fight than to march. This fatal defect is ascribed 

 to the non-development of the physical power of the 

 horse. Guns, ammunition, treasure, &c., which Euro- 

 pean cavalry have bravely won, their horses have been 

 supposed unable to carry away. And in great emer- 

 gencies, when infantry, oxen, and mules were all taxed 

 to the utmost in accumulating means for attacking a 

 fortress, the cavalry have not borne their part in the 

 burden and heat of the day, because, " although it is 

 easy to extract from men manual labour, it is concluded 

 that it is impossible to extract from horses horse- 

 power/' This is illustrated by the practice of the horse- 

 artillery during the Peninsular War. To each gun 

 there were attached twelve horses trained to draught. 

 Of these only eight possessed the means of drawing. 



