Mossoo a Cheval. 55 



healthy fashion, for we two can select our weather, 

 and we are not afraid of our reputation if we drop 

 out before the finish. This kind of work soon 

 shakes our novices into the saddle, and its many- 

 excellencies far outweigh its few absurdities. Let 

 him who runs it down try rather a run with the 

 pack some sunny day. If he does not find it 

 manly sport, and stout hearts in the van of the 

 field, he can tell us why thereafter. The outcome 

 of to-day's riding mania is well ahead of the 

 young men's billiard-playing and bar-drinking of 

 twenty years ago. 



XV. 



There are good riders in every land and in 

 every species of saddle. Facts are the best ar- 

 guments. The North American Indian and the 

 follower of the Prophet each performs his prodi- 

 gies of horsemanship, the one bareback with 

 hanging leg, the other in a peaked saddle with 

 knee all but rubbing his nose. Whoso has laughed 

 over Leech's sketches of Mossoo, who makes a 

 promenade a cheval, or indeed has watched him 

 in the Bois, is fain to doubt that a Frenchman 

 can ride well. And yet he does. Was not 

 Baucher the father of fine horsemanship 1 A 

 rough and tumble, plucky rider, or one who is 

 experienced and discreet after hounds as well, is 

 more frequently found in Great Britain ; a highly 



