336 THE H0E8E. 



or ride are in habit and temper about on a par with the one on 

 which he took lessons. But suppose they are quite different ; 

 what becomes of the one prescribed rule he has learnt ? Put 

 him out of this and he would be quite astray ; he would want 

 the resources under different circumstances, that varied practice 

 only can teach ; and in all he does there is ever a mannerism, 

 or, to use an expression for the occasion, a one-wayism, that 

 detects the man taught late in life ; for, to take a liberty with 

 a line of Goldsmith's, — 



Let school-taught pride dissemble all it can, 

 It leaves its habits stamp'd upon the man. 



Let US cast an eye on a squadron or regiment of cavalry, 

 w^hether standing, walking, or trotting their horses ; every man's 

 hand is in the same position, and in the same place. This looks 

 extremely soldier-like and well, for uniformity sake ; but let it 

 be remembered, that to enable this to be done, every horse is 

 schooled till they all carry their heads alike, or at least enough 

 60 to enable each man to have a proper command of his horse's 

 mouth while holding his rein hand or arm precisely the same as 

 his right and left comrades. Thus, with four hundred horses all 

 taught the same habits, carriage, and evolutions, one general 

 rule suffices for four hundred men to make them do all that is 

 required of them ; and the whole machinery of man and horse, 

 from day to day, and year to year, performs the same thing in 

 the same way ; and such mode of instruction would suffice for 

 the private person also, if, like the soldier, he always rode the 

 same horse, or one with the same habits ; always rode him un- 

 der the same circumstances, and wanted him to perform merely 

 the same routine of duty. 



The soldier requires good hands, and, in a greater or less de- 

 gree, they are all brought to have such ; but he only wants 

 hands, or rather a hand, to make a particular horse do a partic- 

 ular thing. His business is somewhat like that of the driver of 

 a locomotive engine ; there is a particular handle to increase or 

 diminish its speed, or stop it ; each engine made on the same 

 construction is managed in the same way, with a little variation 

 as to the facility, with which the machinery is propelled, re- 

 tarded, or stopped. It is thus with troop horses ; the same sig- 



