ADVANTAGES AS AN ACCOMPLISHMENT. 221 



SO much insisted upon by the manege-riders, we 

 think it is never more fully displayed by him than 

 when nearly in his natural state. There is, how- 

 ever, we admit, something pleasing in the associa- 

 tions of the horse highly caparisoned, as well as the 

 airs of the manege, with grand and imposing spec- 

 tacles ; and there are several passages in the third 

 Georgic of Virgil, which show that the manege was 

 found out earlier than many persons may imagine. 

 Not only is good horsemanship well suited to the 

 pith and nerve of the English character, but it has 

 always been considered as one of the corporeal ac- 

 complishments of a gentleman. Thus Clarendon, 

 in his character of the Duke of Newcastle of his 

 day, says of him, that " he was a very fine gentle- 

 man, active, and full of courage, and most accom- 

 plished in those qualities of horsemanship^ dancing, 

 and fencing, which accompany a good breeding ; in 

 which his delight was.'' But there are other than 

 mere personal advantages attending good horseman- 

 ship. It is the habitual contempt of danger that 

 ennobles the profession of the soldier ; and horse- 

 manship, as practised in England at present, and 

 with the esprit de corps of the several hunts, tends 

 much to the same end. Those who pursue it in 

 the field, learn to expose themselves to danger with 

 less reluctance, are less anxious to get out of it, or 

 given to lose their presence of mind when in it, than 

 persons whose pursuits have been of a different 

 turn ; in fact, it may be said to increase natural 

 courage. Such persons, again, as merely ride on 

 horseback for exercise, find in it the great preser- 



