THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 5 



stirrups left pride and insolence without a pretext for 

 thus degrading God's image. Instead of offering his 

 back to be trampled on, the servant now only held 

 the stirrup for his lord. In the middle ages, the 

 great were fond of exacting this token of servility 

 from their humbled rivals : Emperors of Germany 

 have held the stirrup for the Pope ; and Henry II. of 

 England, when his rancor against Thomas a Becket 

 was hottest, thought to cajole the great prelate by a 

 similar show of feigned respect. 



The first distinct notice we have of the use of the 

 saddle occurs in an edict of the Emperor Theodosius 

 (A.D. 385) ; from which we also learn that it was 

 usual for those who hired post-horses to provide their 

 own saddles. The edict directs that no traveller shall 

 use a saddle weighing more than sixty pounds ! Such 

 cumbrous contrivances must have been more like the 

 howdahs placed on the backs of elephants, than the 

 light and elegant saddle of modern times. Fortu- 

 nately for the soldier of those days, it does not 

 appear that the military punishment of " carrying the 

 saddle" was devised until a later period. It was 

 commonly inflicted on horse-soldiers, and even on 

 knights in the middle ages, for breach of discipline. 

 A saddle, bridle, and other appurtenances, were laid 

 on the offender's shoulder, and he was compelled to 

 march about for a certain length of time, without 

 stopping, exposed to the scoffs and jeers of all who 



