BIPEDS AND QUADRUPEDS. 121 



cruelty of his being taught, but from the ignorance, 

 want of temper, or brutality of him who teaches. 



We have taken the hint of driving without bearing 

 reins from our continental neighbours ; with them 

 all diligence, post, and cart horses, work without 

 them ; but it must be admitted that these horses go 

 in any form they please, and we often see three 

 horses abreast, one carrying himself like a pig, an- 

 other like a horse, and the third like a giraffe. The 

 indiscriminate abolition of the bearing rein is as 

 absurd as its indiscriminate use^; for a tolerably long 

 experience in driving all sorts of horses, singly, 

 doubly, and four together, quite convinces me, though 

 a decided advocate for not using a bearing rein, when 

 it can be dispensed with, that there are many horses 

 who will work with less fatigue to themselves by 

 being kept a little together by its use, than if allowed 

 to roll along just as they please without one. 



This brings me to the supposed undeniable cruelty 

 of sharp bits. Now, with submission to better au- 

 thority, I venture to deny that the using a sharp bit 

 is cruelty ; their indiscriminate use would be, not 



