THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 43 



The late General Pater, of the East India service, 

 was a remarkably fat man. While stationed at 

 Madras, he purchased a charger, which, after a short 

 trial, all at once betook himself to a trick of lying 

 down whenever he prepared to get upon his back. 

 Every expedient was tried, without success, to cure 

 him of the trick ; and the laugh was so much in- 

 dulged against the general's corpulency, that he found 

 it convenient to dispose of his horse to a young officer 

 quitting the settlement for a distant station up the 

 country. Upwards of two years had subsequently 

 elapsed, when, in the execution of his official duties, 

 General Pater left Madras to inspect one of the fron- 

 tier cantonments. He travelled, as is the usual cus- 

 tom in India, in his palanqueen (a covered couch 

 carried on men's shoulders). The morning after his 

 arrival at the station, the troops were drawn out; 

 and, as he had brought no horses, it was proper to 

 provide for his being suitably mounted, though it 

 was not very easy to find a charger adapted to his 

 weight. At length an officer resigned to him a 

 powerful horse for the occasion, which was brought 

 out duly caparisoned in front of the line. The 

 general came forth from his tent, and proceeded to 

 mount; but the instant the horse saw him advance, 

 he flung himself flat upon the sand, and neither blows 



