288 HORSEMANSHIP. 



What would the people of those times have thought 

 if they could have seen one of our Newmarket rac- 

 ing saddles, weighing under four pounds, but giving 

 the rider a very comfortable seat. The order here 

 alluded to, doubtless applied to something resem- 

 bling a saddle, although of rude workmanship, as 

 its weight bespeaks. Every traveller, we may con- 

 clude, was provided with his own saddle ; and about 

 this time the Latin word sella more frequently oc- 

 curs. In the fifth century, again, we find articles 

 bearing something of this stamp, and made so ex- 

 travagantly magnificent as to call forth a prohibi- 

 tion by the Emperor Leo L against any one orna- 

 menting them with pearls or precious stones. The 

 saddle-tree is also mentioned by Sidonius Apolli- 

 naris, a Christian writer, who was born a. d. 430 ; 

 and in the sixth century, the saddles of the cavalry, 

 according to Mauritius, who wrote on the military 

 art, had large coverings of fur; and about this 

 period, the Greek word cO^a {sella) is used. It is 

 considered probable, however, that the merit of the 

 invention of saddles may be due to Persia, not 

 merely from the circumstance of Xenophon's men- 

 tioning the people of that country as being the 

 first to render the seat on the horse more conve- 

 nient and easy, by placing more covering on their 

 backs than was common in other parts, but also 

 because the horses of Persia were made choice of 

 for saddle-horses in preference to any others. That 

 the word saddle is derived from the Latin word 

 sedeo^ to sit, may fairly be presumed. That the 

 proper saddle itself, however, was unknown in Eng- 



