INTKODUCTION. 13 



openly organized. * 'Dandy" Marks was the observed of all 

 observers, when some forty years ago he used to drive down 

 Broadway in his tilbury and bob-tailed tandem. In this 

 enjoyment he had the New York City field to himself with 

 the exception of Doctor Hugh Caldwell, of peninsular 

 war fame, who knew how to sit and drive. 



Now that the game of polo calls for the small, active 

 horse, powerful bit, and delicate and skillful handling in 

 sudden stops and short turns, we can fancy the dexterous 

 use that was made of the bit in olden times when hand to 

 hand encounters were common between tilting knights 

 and champions of rival armies, who were jealous of each 

 other's j^rowess, and whose honor, valor and fame 

 were decided by the address, skill and gallantry of the 

 respective contestants in the fight. 



With what ancestral pride can the Lords and Com- 

 mons of the British Isles, at the present time, point to 

 the rusting armor, the blood-stained spear, the iron 

 gauntlet, the sword and sabre-tache, the spur, battle- 

 axe and breast-plate, the armorial bearings and crests 

 awarded for gallant deeds, the antique saddle, the fancy 

 shabrack, the weather-beaten bandoleer, the costly 

 bridle, and the gorgeous bit that are handed down from 

 warriors of old. Their skillful use decided the transient 

 fates of nations, made kings and emperors, and over- 

 threw and established thrones and dynasties, with their 

 frequent invasions, their terror and their sway; now they 

 rest in the silent and majestic dignity of victorious death, 

 as material evidences of the truth of the history that 

 they made. Apparently conscious of their own renown, 

 they prove to the sceptical mind, whose prejudiced 

 thoughts, mingled with silent admiration and af- 

 fected scorn to suit the new state of things that, 

 through the events which followed in the wake of bloody 

 onslaughts and exterminating wars, wasfed by their dex- 

 terous and incessant use, the Anglo-Saxon race is free^ 



