HIDE. 



and it is evident from the Molaic hiftory, that in the firft 

 inflance where mention is made of Pharaoh's chariots, he is 

 likewife faid to have had his horfeman : which word, in the 

 Hehrew language, is explained by the commentators to 

 mean one who fits upon and guides a horfe. Befides, the 

 Hebrew word, " paralh," horfeman, is derived, as Buxtorf 

 fays, from a Hebrew root, which fignifies to prick or Jpur ; 

 and the rider, or fpurrer, was io denominated, becauie he 

 ufed to prick or fpurthe horfe. Aben-Ezra fays, that the 

 horfeman was fo called from wearing fpOrs on his heels. 

 By this account and explanation of the word, which in the 

 Hebrew fignifies a " horfeman," we are informed of the 

 great antiquity of lpurs ; and may reafonably conclude, that 

 the art of riding was not only known, but, from the i;.\Lii- 

 tion of fpurs, had alfo received an improvement, not un- 

 worthy of the difcovery of more difcerning times ; and 

 feems to imply, that riding was not only familiar, but even 

 advanced in thofe primitive times to a degree of exactnefs, 

 perhaps, not hitherto fufpefted. The arguments here, and 

 alfo under the article Horse, alleged in proof of the feni- 

 ority of horfeman (hip to that of the ufe of chariots, may be 

 llrengthened by the following paffage in the book of Job, 

 where, fpeaking of the oftrich, he fays, " fhe lifteth herfelf 

 on high, flie fcorneth the horle and its rider ;" which ex- 

 preffion feems to imply that it was a cullom, as it is now in 

 fome nations, to hunt this bird on horfeback, and that 

 fhe was fuperior to the fwiftelt horfe. Hence it mult be 

 granted that riding was practifed in his country, and at the 

 time in which he lived ; nor is it to be forgotten, that he 

 lived in a country diltinguifhed above others for its horfes, 

 and in which no chariot was ever known to have been ufed. 

 We may alfo add to the fame purpofe, the noble delcription 

 which he gives of the horle, io known and fo admired, in 

 which he fpeaks of him only as being rode, and not driven 

 in a carriage : and if this writer, as fome learned perfons 

 have thought, lived long before the time of Mofes, what he 

 fays in relation to this fubjeft mull be anterior to the Mofaic 

 hiitory ; and if that be the cafe, the antiquity of equitation 

 will be carried fo high, as to put it beyond the reach of in- 

 quiry and inveltigation. In the deferiplion juft referred to, 

 the Englilh tranflators make Job fay, " that this animal's 

 neck is clothed with thunder ;" an exprcflion no lefs falfe 

 than abfurd. The true rendering of this paffage is, that 

 his neck is clothed with a mane. Thus Bochart, Le Clerc, 

 Patrick, and other commentators tranflate it. Bochart 

 fays, that the word, which in Hebrew fignifies thunder, is 

 fynonimous with that for the mane of the horfe ; but this 

 being the cafe, it is allonifhing that the tranfl.itor fliould 

 have fet afide the juft and natural fignification, and have 

 chofen to cover the horfe's neck with thunder, intlead of a 

 mane ; nor is it lefs amazing, that thisnonfente Ihould have 

 been extolled by the author of the "Guardian," and others, 

 as an inflance of the fublime. We (hall here obferve, that 

 the Grecians, in many inllances, chofe mares for riding be- 

 fore horfes. iEliaii lays, they thought them litter for the 

 courfe ; and Virgil only names the man's of Epirus, as run- 

 ning in the Olympian race. Pliny fays, they win- fwifter 

 than horfes. Berenger's Hill, and Art of Horfemanlhip, 

 vol. i. p. 12, &c. 



The knowledge and utility o( the art of riding conl'iil in 

 being a hie to difcern, and dextrous to employ, the means by 

 which the horfe may be brought to execute what tin' rider 

 requires of him, with propriety, readinefs, and fat -ty : and 

 this knowledge in the man, and obedience in the horfe, 

 fhould be fo intimately connected, as to form one pel 

 whole; this union being fo indifpenfably neceflary, that, 

 where it is not, there is no meaning between tin- man and 



Vol. XXX. 



horfe : they talk different languages, and all is confu- 

 fion. 



The Greeks, who excelled in the art of riding, were ac- 

 cullomed to mount and difmount, bv vaulting and leaping 

 from and upon the backs of their horfes, as well as from 

 one horfe to another. Thcfe feats of activity feem to have 

 been firft practifed in battle, and in thofe ages when faddlcs, 

 and eonfequently ftirrups, were unknown. The utility of 

 this method mull be acknowledged ; for if one horfe was 

 tired, wounded, or killed, his mailer had another for his 

 fervice ; two or three being led into the field, which were 

 ufed as occafion required. Thefe eicercifes, fo effentially 

 neceffary in war, were, after a time, performed in the public 

 games, and other occalional exhibitions, merely to (hew the 

 nimblcnefs and addrefs of the horleman ; and the modern art 

 of vaulting, in all its variety of poflures and methods, and 

 which has now little more in view than to difplay the aftivity 

 of the performer, is, without doubt, derived from this an- 

 cient practice ; as well as the whole modern manege, except 

 fome few experiments, calculated merely for grace and plea- 

 fure, is borrowed from the different motions and evolutions 

 performed by men and horfes in battle. To this likewife 

 we owe the folemmties and fports of tilts, tournaments, and 

 julls ; invented as a mock-war, to fill up the lazy hours of 

 peace, to infpire ami keep alive a martial fpirit, and to 

 render the body active, robull, and expert in the feats of 

 arms. 



It is well known that the Romans were indebted to 

 Greece for many arts and ufeful improvements, and parti- 

 cularly horfemandiip, which was received and adopted by 

 them with fuch eagernefs, and cultivated with fuch diligence 

 and zeal, that they foon were able to excel their mailers. 

 Romulus, at a very early period, inllituted his order of 

 " equites," or horfemen, as Athens and Sparta had done 

 before, on purpofe to encourage the pradlice of riding, and 

 engage his new fubjecis to keep horfes at their own expence, 

 which, in thofe times, were fo collly, that the rich alone 

 were equal to tlie charge of maintaining them. Among the 

 Romans they had a horfe called " fingularis," or fingle, 

 upon which a man rode without a laddie, tiling only a 

 cloth, like the Greeks, fattened with a furcingle, or elfe 

 fitting upon the bare back. The riders were alfo, occa- 

 fionally, tied and bound to their horfes by thcfe girths, that 

 they might lit more firmly and fecurely ; but the practice 

 was imprudent and dangerous, as they were thus liable to 

 be dragged and torn by the horfe, in cafe they were un- 

 feated, like the warrior defcribed by Silius Italicus (lib. 4. 

 Punic.) : 



" Rapiturque pavore 



Traftus equi, vindlis connexa ad cingula membris. v 



Lock faddlcs, now but little ufed, are liable to the fame 

 objection. 



The art of riding fubfilts in various modes and different 

 degrees of (kill and perfection among different nation . In 

 Arabia, where the horfes are the nnefl and hell >t theiir 

 kind, their owners manage them wit!: lingular dexterity. 

 "Their faddlcs have the back part, or " cantle," fo I ! 

 that it reachj in half-way up the rider's hae'e. 



The ftirrups are Hat. in the Turkilh m I contain 



the whole 1 I . nevei ufe a girth, h hich 11 



more difficult to 1,1 >u 11 md keep their feat. The Arabian 

 youth nnderitand tin- equilibfe, and keep their body in a 

 juft counterpoife i being fo dextrous, thai they will Hand 

 on the (addle, while runs at full fpeed, fling their 



lance •, turn round, 1 hrow themfeh , and (1 



their heads ; the herl" continuing his career 'il I 



H h Similar 



