256 HORSEMAXSPIIP. 



in consequence of the superiority of his horseman- 

 ship having placed him in a situation v/here he is 

 not molested bj the crowd. 



The greater part of mankind, it is true, are en- 

 dowed with a capacity for performing, and, to a 

 certain deo:ree, excellins: in, the various exercises 

 which have been invented for our amusement ; but 

 we have reason to believe, that out of the vast num- 

 bers of persons who attempt the apparently simple 

 art of horsemanship, particularh^ that part of it 

 which we have now been speaking of, there are 

 fewer who arrive at perfection in it, than in any 

 other with which we are acquainted. Luckily, how- 

 ever, for sportsmen, it is not in horsemanship as 

 in the fine arts, which admit of no difference be- 

 tween distinguished success and absolute failure ; 

 and it is certain that there are more good and spi- 

 rited riders to hounds at the present day, than were 

 ever known since fox-hunting, as now practised, 

 began. And Englishmen may be proud of this ; 

 for although amongst the classical glories of anti- 

 quity, we hear nothing of leaping five-barred gates, 

 twenty-feet drains, and six-feet walls, after hounds, 

 yet a daring horseman always found honour. Alex- 

 ander the Great first signalized himself by subduing 

 an unruly horse, wdiich no man but himself dared 

 to mount ; and his celebrated general, Eumenes, 

 was first noticed by Philip, his father, on account 

 of his skill in horsemanship and all public exercises. 

 Neither are there wanting parallel cases in our own 

 country, in wdiich titles and honours have been con- 

 ferred upon persons who might have been but 



