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THE ARGUMENT. 



" A horse ! a horse ! ! a kingdom for a horse" ! ! ! 



In this, as in many other sentences of the great 

 dramatist, there is more philosophy than at first meets 

 the eye. No doubt if Richard 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. 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 fleetness 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 — ascertained 

 that a plot had been concocted to murder Bruce in his 

 castle at Lochmaben ; and fearing to send any written 



* Centaur. 



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