22 Introduction. 



general. It was fixed behind a man's saddle, on 

 the croup of a steady horse, trained to go at an 

 easy though shuffling pace between a walk and a 

 trot. The groom, or gentleman, equipped with a 

 broad leathern belt buckled about his waist — by 

 which the lady secured her position, in case of 

 need — first mounted ; and his fair companion was 

 then lifted, backwards, and behind him, into her 

 seat. In an old work on horsemanship, written 

 by one William Stokes, and published at Oxford, 

 it is not, perhaps, unworthy of notice, directions 

 are given for.. vaulting into the saddle, after the 



lady has been placed on the croup ; together with 

 a plate illustrative of so exquisitely nice and mar- 

 vellously absurd an operation. In Mexico " they 

 manage these things," if not "better," at all 

 events, with more gallantry, than our forefathers 

 did, for with them, " the jpisana, or country lady," 



