ROARING. 107 
have to do all this, while their bodies are distorted by the bearing-rein ; 
the balance of their frames being violently made to conform to the 
capricious notions of modern fashion. For the illustration of this sub- 
ject, an animal, with a head rather well put on, has been chosen. The 
engraving represents a horse undergoing the torture of the bearing-rein. 
The next illustration exhibits the horse carrying its head as it would, 
were it free to exercise a choice. The reader is not asked which delinea- 
tion looks the best. Any appeal to his taste is forborne, because the 
generality of eyes are perverted by the dictates of custom. 
A HORSE’3 HEAD PULLED UP BY THE A HORSE’S HEAD WITHOUT THE BEARING-REIN. 
BEARING-REIN. 
But he is asked to inspect the representations. Let him look well 
and long at them; then declare which appears most at ease. Let his 
heart instruct his eyes, and, to its teaching, let him subject his liking; 
for there can be no beauty where constraint is perceptible. In the most 
vigorous of the ancient statuary repose may be absent, the muscles may 
be strained and the attitude violent; still all the parts balance. ‘ Yes,” 
it may be replied, ‘but in the Elgin marbles the horses’ heads are thrown 
back.” So they are; but not fixed back. The horses are ridden without 
bridles. The elevation of the head, therefore, denotes spirit, and repre- 
sents no more than the action of a moment. The modern carriage 
horse, whether galloping, trotting, or standing still, always has the head 
in one attitude, save when the muzzle is thrown into the air to ease, for 
an instant, the pained angles of the mouth, inhumanly tugged at by the 
bearing-rein. 
Which of the foregoing engravings looks most at ease? Does not 
the fashionable horse appear suffering constraint and torture? The face 
is disguised and concealed by the harness; but enough is left visible to 
suggest the agony compulsion inflicts. ‘‘ Pride,” says the proverb, ‘has 
no feeling.” Therefore, no expectation is formed of any appeal to the 
fashionable circles; but by the ignorance of the public is this barbarity 
