THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 135 



What boots old Europe's boasted fame, on which she sets reliance, 



When the North shall launch its avalanche on her works of art and 

 science? 



Hath she not wept her cities swept by our herds of swarming stal- 

 lions, 



And tower and arch crushed in the march of our barbarous battallions? 



Can we not wield our fathers' shield, the same war-hatchet handle ? 



Do our blades want length, or the reapers strength, for the harvest of 

 the Vandal ? 



Then fiercely neigh, my charger grey! Oh! thy chest is broad and 

 ample, 



And thy hoofs shall prance o'er the fields of France, and the pride of 

 her heroes trample. 



The horses of the Cossacks, bred on the Steppes, 

 though far inferior to those of the Circassians, are, 

 nevertheless, a serviceable race, strong-boned, well- 

 limbed, and with a good proportion of blood; though 

 their forms are angular and inelegant, and their necks 

 ewed, they are fast and hardy. The Cossacks, like 

 all equestrian nations, ride with very short stirrups, 

 and they use only the snaffle bridle. 



Why is it that all the regular armies of Europe, 

 including that of England, have adopted a style of 

 riding which has no one advantage except that of 

 pleasing the eye, and, in reality, only the eye of those 

 unacquainted with the true principles of equitation ? 

 A rider sitting bolt upright, with his legs at full 

 stretch, is in the worst possible position for grasping 

 the animal's body by the pressure of his thighs, knees, 



