OR, The Tukn Out. 



15 



THE ARGUMENT. 



•* A horse ! 



A horse 



My kingdom for a horse " I 



N tlie above quotation, as in many other 

 sentences of the great dramatist, there 

 is more philosophy than at first meets 

 the eye. No doubt if Eichard, when 

 the tide of battle turned against him 

 at Bosworth Field, could have procured 

 such a steed as that which carried the 

 renowned Dick Turpin to York, he 

 might, like Turpin, have effected his 

 flight to that city^ and there, as he was 

 highly esteemed, he might not only have 

 escaped from his adversary, but have 

 raised such an army among his northern retainers, by 

 whom he was sincerely beloved, as would have turned 

 the tide of war in his favour; but for want of a horse 

 he was overtaken and slain. No doubt the Egyptians, 

 who were the first to use the horse for military purposes, 

 won many of their tributary kingdoms by means of their 

 cavalry. One legend says that the success of the Spaniards 

 in Peru was in no small degree owing to their cavalry, 

 as the natives, who thought the horse and his rider were 

 one animal,* became alarmed, and fled at the very sight 

 of the cavalry. It is, therefore, no exaggeration to say that 

 kingdoms have been won and lost by means of the horse. 

 King Robert Bruce, through a little strategy and the fleet- 

 ness of his horse, escaped the machinations of the traitor 

 Comyn, and saved his life, and afterwards won the crown 

 and kingdom of Scotland. A friend of Bruce's — who was 

 residing at the Court of Edward, King of England — ascer- 

 tained that a plot had been concocted to murder Bruce in 

 his castle at Lochmaben ; and fearing to send any written 

 communication, lest it should be intercepted, forwarded to 

 Bruce a pair of spurs and a purse of gold. Bruce knew ' 

 that the spurs meant flight, and the purse means for his 

 journey ; but the ground was covered with snow, and if he 

 were to fly, the conspirators could easily trace him. He, ' 



* Centaur, 



