THE GALLOP, HAND- GAL LOP, AND CANTER. 67 



neither the fore nor the hind feet strike the ground 

 exactly together, as they do in leaping. 



Keep to the left, as the law directs, is an admonition 

 on bridges and other thoroughfares in England which 

 has often excited the surprise of Americans, very likely 

 eliciting some such comment as " How stupid !" " How 

 perfectly ridiculous!" Yet for many centuries it was 

 really the only safe way to turn, whether on foot or on 

 horseback, and as all our fashions of riding and driving 

 are based upon it, it is hard to see why the custom 

 should have changed in this country. In the olden 

 time, when people went about principally on horseback, 

 when roads were lonely and footpads plenty, it would 

 have been "perfectly ridiculous" for a man to turn to 

 the right and expose his defenceless bridle-arm to a 

 blow from a bludgeon or slash from a hanger. Much 

 more would it have been so had he a lady under his 

 care, who would thus be left in the very front of dan- 

 ger, whether it might be of robbery from highwaymen, 

 of insult from roistering riders, or of simple injury 

 from passing vehicles. At the present day and in this 

 country the danger last mentioned is the only one 

 really to be feared, and it is so considerable that the 

 question is often raised whether a lady be not safer at 

 the right of her cavalier ; but the still greater danger 

 in this case of her being crushed between the horses, in 

 case of either one springing suddenly towards the other, 

 has caused it thus far to be decided in the negative. 



