Horses. 77 



when the bad roads reduced all travelHng to an alternative 

 between riding and pedestrianism, men of all degrees and 

 conditions went on horseback for considerable distances, 

 and became skilful, no doubt, in proportion to the fre- 

 quency of their practice. What a great deal of riding there 

 is in the Waverley novels ! Not only the baron and the 

 knight, but also the tradesman, the commercial traveller, 

 the citizen of every rank, go on' horseback from place to 

 place. How much healthy and invigorating exercise the 

 men of our generation miss which their forefathers fre- 

 quently enjoyed ! 



Imagine the benefit to a manly youth of the last cen- 

 tury, fastened in London behind a counter or a desk, 

 when he was ordered to ride on business to Lincoln, or 

 York, or Edinburgh ! He had before him weeks of the 

 manliest life a human being can lead, and plenty of leisure, 

 as he sat in the saddle, for the observation of men and 

 nature. There was danger enough to give exercise to his 

 courage; and as the pistols in his holsters were loaded 

 with powder and ball, so the heart in his breast had to be 

 charged with the spirit of the brave. All men in those 

 days lived from time to time a life giving them some 

 brotherhood with the knights of the days of chivalry. A 

 London tradesman riding over the dark heath, robber- 

 haunted, thinking about the flints of his big pistols, had 

 need of a portion of that manliness which in other times 

 had clothed itself in knightly harness of complete steel. 

 Consider the difference between passing a fortnight on 

 horseback and a night in a railway train — the long breath- 

 ing of fresh air, the healthy exercise, the delightful variety 

 of scenery, the entertaining change and adventure ; and 

 then the seat in the railway carriage, with its poisonously 

 impure atmosphere. . . . 



