222 HORSEMANSHIP. 



vative of health. Nay, more than this, persons of 

 tender constitutions have surmounted the weakness 

 of their nature entirely, by horse-exercise and hunt- 

 ing ; in proof of which, many cases could be quoted. 

 The following, of a patient of the celebrated Dr. 

 Sydenham, is perhaps as conclusive as any other : — 

 A gentleman, a relation of the Doctor's, who was 

 brought so low by consumption, that there appeared 

 to be no possibility of a recovery by medicine, was 

 induced by him to try horse-exercise, and a journey 

 to his native country. On leaving London, he was 

 so weak as to be lifted on his horse, and was refu- 

 sed admittance to the first inn he stopped at, being 

 supposed to be in a dying state. Notwithstanding, 

 he persisted in riding, by easy stages, to Exeter, 

 and gained so much strength by the way, that 

 though one day his horse lay down with him in 

 some water, and he was forced to pass many hours 

 in his wet clothes, he not only sustained no harm 

 by the accident, but arrived at Exeter greatly re- 

 covered. Thinking he had gained his point, he 

 left off horse-exercise, and had a relapse ; but, on 

 betaking himself again to the saddle, he obtained a 

 perfect recovery. The writer of this article, in one 

 of his hunting tours, says, " My time was almost 

 divided between my saddle and my bed ; but I 

 never knew what it was to be fatigued when I lived 

 temperately, and went early to rest. Indeed, such 

 a life bade defiance to disease. A celebrated phy- 

 sician of the last century used to recommend riding 

 on horseback to his patients. ' Live," said he, ' in 

 a saddle." That riding is the most wholesome of 



