COREESPONDENCE. 313 



MoNTAUBAN. — I havG already detailed at 

 some length my objections to children riding 

 before they have strength and judgment suffi- 

 ficient to enable them to manage a horse. 

 Moreover, if a child — say a little girl — gets a 

 severe fall, the shock to her nervous system 

 is most likely to be a lasting one, and in some 

 cases is never got over ; whereas grown girls 

 are less hable to fall, if they have any sort of 

 fair teaching, and certainly have stronger 

 nerves and firmer resolution to enable them 

 to bear the casualties attendant upon the 

 practice of the art. 



Curious. — Griffin and Hawkes, of Birming- 

 ham, by the burning of whose premises some 

 of my most valued MSS. were lost. 



Jessica. — It is quite untrue. Her Imperial 

 Majesty dresses and mounts in ordinary 

 fashion. There is not one word of truth in 

 the widely-circulated statement that her habit 

 is buttoned on after she has mounted, nor is 

 her jacket ever made '' tight." It is close- 

 fitting and beautifully adapted to her figure, 

 but sufficiently large to leave her abundant 

 room to move in. The Empress despises 



