prefented a new example to an admiring world.

:

But while we declare our fatisfaction in the Revolution which has lately taken place in the government of France, we protest against the conclufion which has been no lefs nncharitably than illogically drawn, that we are therefore defirous of a revolution in our own country. If a revolution had been defirable at home, we durft not thus have expreffed our joy the horrid dungeons of an English Baftile would have terrified us into filence. But we have always boafted, that by the elevation of the Prince of Orange to the throne, and by the act which fixed the fucceffion on the Houfe of Hanover, our general liberties have been fully recognized and confirmed. We have no wish to get the act of Settlement repealed, or to alter the prefent form of governWe are attached to the British Conftitution, as it confifts of King, Lords, and Commons. We give our hearty fuffrage to the affignment of the executive department, and of a voice in the legiflation, to the perfon of the King. We have a decided preference for an hereditary monarchy, fubject only to fuch reftrictions as directly flow from the precedent of Sixteen Hundred and EightyEight, which we devoutly pray that neither we nor our defcendants may ever have occafion to bring into exercife. We refpect a body of Nobles, which, in a political view, have little or no refemblance to that which lately exifted in France. We regard with zealous veneration, the weight which is given to the people at large in the management of national affairs, by the voice of the Hcufe of Commons.

ment.

We will not, indeed, pretend to conceal, that we are not perfectly faisfied with the prefent ftate of the popular reprefentation. But this is by no means peculiar to us as Proteftant Diffenters. In this we only follow, at a humble diftance, fome of the moft illuftrious names that have

diftinguished our country. Here we feel that we are Englishmen, independent of every religious defcription. Here, therefore, we cannot act as a feparate body. Here we shall always be happy to co-operate with the wife and good, but we fhall never connect ourfelves with the feditious and intemperate. It is our deliberate judgment, that the evils we lament will admit of a happy 1edrefs, and may be con fitutionally remedied without the viōlation of perfonal right, and with equal advantage to the monarch and the people.

As an earnest of the peaceable measures which on this and all other occafions we are determined to pursue, we flatter ourselves that we may fafely appeal to our general conduct in our late application to Parliament, for the repeal of the Corporation and Teft Acts. A few indifcreet expreffions in the Refolutions of a fingle fociety in a neighbouring county, have, indeed, been pointed out, and condemned with a willing afperity; but the public may be affured that they were entirely difapproved by the general body of Diffenters. Confcious that we have no political demerits, which can render us unworthy of being admitted to the full privileges of citizens, we spoke in the manly tone of conviction, but in none of our larger affociations did we ever depart from a becoming defcrence to the legiflative power. We depended on the juice of our country. And though we have been thrice difappointed of our reafonable expectations, we have not given went to our impatience in deeds of turbulence and rapine. We have been guilty of no violence: we have threatened no mifchief to the perfons or property of our most violent oppofers. And we truft, we fhall never deviate from our accustomed good order. We fhall, from time to time, as may feem to ourselves expedient, renew our application to Parliament, and refpe&t-. fully repeat the grounds of cur com plaint; but we will not fuffer the

most

moft mortifying neglect, or contumelious treatment, to provoke us to a breach of the peace. We will wait, with steady temper, for a change in the public mind; and in the general courfe of our lives will apply, with patriotic diligence, to the duties of our refpective profeffions. It fhall be our conftant ambition to fill our feveral ftations with credit to ourfelves,

and with usefulness to the community: and if we cannot obtain the cordial esteem of every clafs of our fellow fubjects, we will do all that the Author of Nature hath put in Our power, we will endeavour to deserve it.

Signed by Order, in the Name
of the Committee,
WATSON SCATCHERD, Chairman.

IN 'N the first place, every horse should be accustomed to ftand ftill when he is mounted, One would imagine this might be readily granted; yet we fee how much the contrary is practifed. When a gentleman mounts at a livery stable, the groom takes the horse by the bit, which he bends tight round his under jaw: the horfe ftriving to go on, is forced back; advancing again, he frets, as he is again ftopped thort, and hurt by the manner of holding him. The rider, in the mean time, mounting without the bridle, or at least holding it but flightly, is helped to it by the groom, who being thoroughly employed by the horfe's fluttering, has at the fame time both bridle and ftirrup to give. This confufion would be prevented, if every horfe was taught to ftand ftill when he is mounted. Forbid your groom, therefore, when he rides your horse to water, to throw himself over him from a hoife-block, and kick him with his leg, even before he is fairly upon him. This wrong manner of mounting is what chiefly teaches your horfe the vicious habit against which we are here warning. On the other hand, a conftant practice of mounting in the proper manner, is all that is neceffary to prevent a horfe's going on till the rider is quite adjusted in the faddle.

The next thing neceffary therefore

is, that the rider fhould mount properly. The common method is to ftand near the croup or hinder part of the horfe, with the bridle held very long in the right hand. By this manner of holding the bridle before you mount, you are liable to be kicked; and when you are mounted, your horfe may go on fome time, or play what gambols he pleafes, before the rein is fhort enough in your hand to prevent him.

It is common likewife for an awkward rider, as foon as his foot is in the ftirrup, to throw himself with all his force to gain his feat; which he cannot do, till he hath firft overbalanced himself on one fide or the other: he will then wriggle into it by degrees. The way to mount with eafe and fafety is, to ftand rather before than behind the firrup. In this pofture take the bridle fhort, and the mane together in your Jeft hand, helping yourfelf to the ftirrup with your right, fo that your toe may may not touch the horfe in mounting. When your left foot is in the ftirrup, move on your right, till you face the fide of the horfe, looking acrofs over the faddle. Then with your right hand grafp the hinder part of the saddle; and with that and your left, which holds the mane and bridle, lift yourfelf upright on your left foot. Remain thus a mere inftant on your ftir rup, only fo as to divide the action

into two motions. While you are in this pofture, you have a fure hold with both hands, and are at liberty, either to get fafely down, or to throw your leg over and gain your feat. By this deliberate motion, likewife. you avoid, what every good horfeman would endeavour to avoid, putting your horse into a flutter.

When you difmount, hold the bridle and mane together in your left hand, as when you mounted; put your right hand on the pommel of the fad dle, to raise yourself; throw your leg back over the horse, grafp the hinder part of the faddle with your right hand, remain a moment on your flirrup, and in every refpect difmount as you mounted; only what was your first motion when you mounted becomes the left in difmounting. Remember not to bend your right knee in difmounting, left your fpur fhould rub against the horse.

T

ng

It may be next recommended to hold your bridle at a convenient length. Sit fquare, and let not the purchafe of the bridle pull forward your fhoulder; but keep your body even, as it would be if each hand held a rein. Hold your reins with the whole grafp of your hand, divid them with your little finger. Let your hand be perpendicular; your thumb will then be uppermoft, and placed on the bridle. Bend your wrift a little outward; and when you pull the bridle, raife your hand toward your breaft, and the lower part of the palm rather more than the upper. Let the bridle be at fuch a length in your hand, as, if the horie fhould tumble, you may be able to raife his head, and fupport it by the ftrength of your arms, and the weight of your body thrown backward, If you hold the rein too long, you are fubject to fall backward as your horfe rifes.

If, knowing your horfe perfectly well, you think a tight rein unneceffary, advance your arm a little (but

not your shoulder) toward the horse's head, and keep your ufual length of rein. By this means, you have a check upon your horfe, while you indulge him.

If you ride with a curb, make it a rule to hook on the chain yourself; the moft quict horfe may bring his rider into danger, fhould the curb hurt him. If, in fixing the curb, you turn the chain to the right, the links will unfold themfelves, and then oppofe a farther turning. Put on the chain loofe enough to hang down on the horfe's under lip, fo that it may not rife and prefs his jaw, till the reins of the bridle are moderately pulled.

If your horfe has been used to fland fiill when he is mounted, there will be no occafion for a groom to hold him: but if he does, foff r him not to touch the reins, but that part of the bridle which comes down the check of the horle. He cannot then interfere with the management of the reins, which belongs to the rider only; and holding a horfe by the curb (which is ever painful to him) is evidently improper when he is to ftand fill.

Another thing to be remembered is, not to ride with your arms and elbows as high as your fhoulders; nor let them fake up and down with the motion of the horse. The pofture is unbecoming, and the weight of the arms (and of the body too if the rider' does, not fit fill) acts in continual jerks on the jaw of the horfe, which muft give him pain, and make him unquiet, if he has a tender mouth or any fpirit.

Bad riders wonder why horfes are gentle as foon as they are mounted by fkilful ones, though their fkill fecms unemployed: the reafon is, the horfe goes at his cafe yet finds all his motions watched; which he has fagacity enough to difcover. Such a rider hides his whip, if he finds his horfe,

is afraid of it; and keeps his legs from his fides, if he finds he dreads the fpur.

Avoid the ungraceful cuftom of letting your legs thake against the fides of the horfe and as you are not to keep your arms and elbows high, and in motion, fo you are not to rivet them by your fides, but let them fall eafy. One may, at a diftance, diftinguish a genteel horfeman from an awkward one: the first fits ftill, and appears of a piece with his horfe; the latter feems flying off at all points. It is often said with emphafis, that fuch a one has no feat on horfeback; and it means, not only that he does not ride well, but that he does not fit on the right part of the horfe. To have a good feat, is to fit on that part of the horse which, as he fprings, is the center of motion; and from which, of course, any weight would be with moft difficulty fhaken. As in the riding and falling of a board placed in aquilibrio the centre will be always moft at reft, the true feat will be found in that part of your faddle, into which your body would naturally fide if you rode without ftirrups, and is only to be preferved by a proper poife of the body, though the generality of riders imagine it is to be done by the grafp of the thighs and knees. The rider fhould confider himself as united to his horfe in this point; and when fhaken from it, endeavour to reftore the balance.

termined for him by the bars of a demi-peak. Indeed there is no dif ference between the feat of either only, as in the first you ride with fhorter ftirrups, your body will be confequently more behind your knees. To have a good feat yourself, your faddle muft fit well. To fix a precife rule might be difficult: it may be a direction, to have your faddle prefs as nearly as poffibly on that part which we have defcribed as the point of union between the man and horfe; however, fo as not to obstruct the motion of the horse's fhoulders. Place yourfelf in the middle or loweft part of it: fit erect, but with as little conftraint as in your ordinary fitting. The ease of action marks the gentleman you may repofe yourfelf, but not lounge. The fet and ftudied erectnefs acquired in the riding-house, by thofe whofe deportment is not eafy, appears úngenteel and unnatural.

If your horfe ftops fhort, or endeayours by rifing and kicking to unfeat you, bend not your body forward, as many do in thofe circumstances: that motion throws the breech backward, and you off your fork or twift, and out of your feat; whereas, the advancing the lower part of your body, and bending back the upper part and fhoulders, is the method both to keep your feat, and to recover it when loft. The bending your body back, and that in a great degree, is the greatest fecurity in flying leaps; it is a fecurity too, when your horfe leaps ftanding. The horfe's rifing does not try the rider's feat; the lafh of his hind legs is what ought chiefly to be guarded againft, and is beft done by the body's being greatly inclined back. Stiffen not your legs or thighs; and let your body be pliable in the loins, like the coachman's on his box. This loofe manner of fitting will elude every rough motion of the horfe; whereas the fixture of the knees, fo commonly laid à stress on, will in great shocks conduce to the violence of the fall.

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