the bit was strong enough, and the force employed strong enough also, the jaw of the horse could be positively crushed as much as if it was a nut between a pair of nut-crackers; this sort of snaffle is, therefore, to be rendered even more severe than any ordinary curb bridle-in short, it is an organ that acts by mechanical force, like the screw, wedge, or lever. Then comes the twisted snaffle, this is rendered more or less severe by the sharpness of the twist given in its manufacture, it may, in fact, be made all but a rasp in a horse's mouth, I might say a saw, for they are made so severe (or can be so made) that the bars of the mouth could be cut to the bone. Some snaffles are made square in the mouth piece, these cut the bars like a blunt knife; again, some of them are made rough, so they become in point of fact a sharpened rasp, and terrible engines they are; when I say terrible, I do not mean that there are not cases where they may be useful and wanted; some horses' mouths are quite as hard as any ordinary deal board, and such mouths can only be rendered sensible by being made sore by some means or other. On a dead and insensible mouth a curb bridle has little or no influence; so, as the cadger said of his unfortunate donkey, we must "establish a raw to make him feel; for this I assert without fear of contradiction from any man who understands riding, driving, or horses, that sensible to the bit and hand a horse's mouth must be made if we want to use him with any degree of safety or comfort, in anything but a plough, a hay-cart, or a dray.

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Another description of snaffle has been invented and used, this is the double one, consisting of two separate mouth pieces, plain or twisted; the intended efficacy of this bit was that the joint of each mouth piece not being in the centre, but say an inch-and-a-half to the right and left, a very acute angle would be formed; and so it was, but the effect or result is this the angle or wedge is so acute that the bit or bits are projected forwards, consequently we virtually only bring the part near the rings to press on the bars, so we defeat the intent by wishing to increase the severity; the reins being crossed, as I have before mentioned, prevents the mouth-piece getting forward, as the reins coming against the back of the jaw pulls as it were the bit backwards, so the lateral pressure is complete if wanted. I will endeavour to elucidate what I mean by supposing a boot-maker had brought home a pair of boots too narrow for the wearer towards the toe; if, however, they are sufficiently wide to permit the foot to reach its proper place with excruciating pain to the happy customer, they may, if he is silly enough to take them, most satisfactorily act as instruments of torture; but if, fortunately, they are made so determinately narrow that the five digits of the foot cannot be forced forward, they (bulky digits that they are) only get three-fourths of the way to their destination, consequently remain at a part of the boot where they are comfortable. But whether boots are comfortable or not, it would seem, is not always to be left to the judgment or feet of the wearer; to instance-Gilbert of Bond-street once sent me home a pair most beautifully made (as in justice to Mr. Gilbert I must say his boots usually are), but unfortunately those in question were so tight I could not wear them. The foreman called, saw them, and averred they were an admirable fit--so they were, to stand still in ; but with my Goth-like notions and feelings I as pertinaceously avowed they pinched me beyond endurance. "Of course, Sir," said the polite foreman, or some-man,

"you know if they please you; but if those boots pinch you I'll be (something)-you'll excuse me, Sir." I did excuse him, and myself from wearing them. But Gilbert, Bann and Bond, Hoby and O'Shaugnessy (for I have had the honour of wearing the manufacture of all of them), of course know whether one's foot feels comfortable much better than we do ourselves. Gilbert, and Bann, and Bond, make a capital boot, O'Shaugnessy a superlative dress one, and Hoby a hunting boot that if a man can ride will go along, and, above all, will be comfortable and neat enough for any one. On the subject of boots I must digress to give an anecdote.

Though never a dandy in dress, I was so as far as related to riding breeches and boots: I was told of a man living in an obscure street, whose boots were ne plus ultra. I had a pair made ne plus ultra in price; the first time I wore them the stitching gave way; I went and complained of this to my descendant of Crispin, expecting a decent sort of amende honorable excuse on his part-no such thing, "My dear sir," (somewhat familiar, a fastidious man might think)—"my dear Sir, I am delighted to hear you say so, it shows the exquisite delicacy of the workmanship;" never having had any pretensions to be an exquisite, I ventured to express a wish my boots had been made in a more plebeian style; however, he pocketed my £2 16s.

We will now put a somewhat more coercive bridle on my pen than the snaffle, and speak of the Pelham bit. This is a bit in much less general use than I think it merits; many persons say it is one apt to make a horse hang heavy on the hand. If the curb rein on such a bridle was used as the general riding one, it would in most cases lead to such a result, for this reason-its curb part has a tendency to lower the head, and having no port, its chief, if not its whole, pressure is on the jaw by means of the curb chain; this being one uniform pressure, the jaw gets accustomed to it, becomes callous, and consequently the horse ceases to obey the bit, so far as yielding the head goes; but the Pelham is not intended for or suited to a horse that requires the curb rein to be the general one in use; it is in fact a direct snaffle, plain or twisted, with the addition of a lower branch for a second rein, and a curb chain to the upper branch : this of course only acts when the curb rein is resorted to; in fact the Pelham is only fit for a snaffle-bridle horse, who occasionally requires a temporary further restraint than the snaffle affords; for such a horse it is a very valuable bit, as it can be made more or less severe-first, in accordance with the increased or diminished lever we get by the shorter or longer lower branch; and secondly, by the shortening or lengthening of the curb. Fidgetty, light-mouthed horses, who are mostly inclined to get their heads up, usually go well in a Pelham suited to their mouth. For the same reason that makes this bit a bad one for a horse with a dead mouth renders it good for the horse with a tender and light one, namely the evenness of its pressure; independently of this, having but one bit in his mouth instead of two, he is not nearly so much inclined to champ, or keep his mouth in continual motion, as he would be with the double bridle; but keeping it still it gets used to the same quiet, gentle pressure, and does not fight against it. It follows as a matter of course that with a horse with a light sensible mouth, and one with a dull insensible one, we want to produce a diametrically opposite effect—that is, we want to deaden the tenderness and irritability of the

one, while we want to irritate the dulness of the other; this I consider the properly adapted Pelham, and the equally properly proportioned and adjusted double bridle, will materially tend to do.

We hear a great deal about "perfect snaffle bridle" horses, so we do about good ones: we hear, as every one knows, much oftener of the latter than we get them; but I have found by experience that good horses exist in the proportion of fifty to one to the perfect snaffle-bridle horse. Hundreds are ridden in snaffles, I allow; but very few are perfect in them. Unless a horse can be made do all he ought to do as well in a snaffle as by another bridle, so far from being perfect, I consider him no snaffle-bridle horse at all; but I am free to confess I am not a snafflebridle man-above all, across a country; and supposing I had the riding of a hundred horses that are ridden in them, I am quite satisfied I should accommodate seventy out of the hundred with a good double bridle, twenty-five with a Pelham, and should think myself lucky if the remaining five went as I think a perfect snaffle bridle horse should go in a snaffle. When I hear a man say he can ride his horse better in a snaffle than in a double bridle (unless I know the man), I am apt to infer the fault is not in the bridle but the hands, and that the horse goodhumouredly allows his jaw to be lugged at by two sledge hammers, attached to a snaffle rein, though he will not quite stand having it half dislocated by what his master (though the horse does not) terms hands attached to reins, with a curb bit at the end of them; such a man should always ride with a snaffle, for a curb would be out of the question, and it might be difficult to make him put up with the grotesque appearance of a more appropriate appendage in his case to a good-mouthed horse—that would be, a stable head collar.

If I were writing a treatise on bits-which, by-the-bye, I have some idea of attempting, and therefore send out these sheets as a kind of feeler as to how far the public and the press (both of whom have been more than liberal towards my fugitive scribblings) would tolerate such a work from a private individual-I could enumerate and describe a multitudinous variety of bits of all sorts, denominations, and varieties, both in form and efficacy; but these would require engraved illustrations that would be out of place, or rather out of the question here, both as regards space and expense. I have devoted a good deal of time and money to the subject, but whether any work I could write or concoct upon it would be useful to others or beneficial to myself, requires some consideration, for unless I saw a prospect of one or both these objects, it would he useless to attempt it. For the present, therefore, I shall go at once from the Pelham to the double bridle, in other words the bit and bridoon. The bridoon is, in itself, neither more nor less than a snaffle, plain or twisted; the other varieties chiefly consist in the form of its sides or cheeks: these, with old fashioned ones, were usually about two inches in length. The objections to these were, and are, the lower cheek constantly got entangled in the curb chain; and if not, by pulling at a hardmouthed horse to turn him, the cheek pulled through, or rather into, his mouth. To avoid the lower cheek getting entangled in the chain, they were then made with an upper cheek only; this was not made, however, high enough to prevent the bit drawing into the mouth, and when there the rider generally had to get down to get it in its proper place; therefore, though one objection was done away with, the other remained.

Then came in the ring without any cheek at all: this of course prevented any entanglement with the curb chain, but still permitted the bit to be drawn through the mouth; here, however, there was an advantage over the short cheek, for if the bit, rein, and head rein, were partially drawn into the mouth, the rider can easily pull it back again, and these are the best for ordinary riding.

The racing bridoon was usually made with cheeks, the usual length of the ordinary snaffle; these totally prevent both the above-mentioned objections, and for a horse difficult to turn are decidedly the best.

The gagging snaffle is a very useful one for horses who get their heads low, which some will do from vice or impatience. If a horse naturally does this, proceeding merely from a dull heavy mouth, the gag snaffle will not cure him of the habit, for the rein being held by the rider's hand (however firm that hand may be) there is still a yielding, which the horse does not mind; so the rider's hands and arms get tired of supporting such a brute's head before he tires of hanging on the bit; a good sharp twisted common snaffle, if the hands are kept high and the bit kept constantly on the move, is the best instrument I have found to ride such a horse with, by way of practical lessons to him; the twist renders his mouth tender, and then if the hands are kept up, he keeps his head up, rather than punish his mouth. If he is too heavy mouthed to yield to this, a cross, or as some terni it a German rider, should be put on, the reins put up high on the cross, and the horse should be practised in the lounge with this on, or trotted by the side of another; these reins being firmly fixed give him a forcible chuck up at every step if he leans on them; and as they do not tire like a man's hands, the horse does of being constantly checked by them.

Where the gag snaffle (or bridoon if a double bridle is used) is useful, is where a horse, when excited by hounds, other horses, or from vice, has a trick of getting his head so low as to give us no power over him, in order to run away: this with a gag he cannot do. If a curb bridle is dispensed with, then the snaffle must have two reins, the one making it a common snaffle, the other either running through a pipe cheek (in which case the gag rein must be a round one), or running through a ring, when a narrow pliable flat rein will answer the purpose.

Some horses when excited will, when galloping, suddenly throw down their heads nearly or quite to their knees, and particularly when going down hill; if the rider does not give them their head they would pull him over them if he does give the head liberty, the great additional weight thrown on the fore quarters is not by any means unlikely to throw the horse down. I had one who, though a strong puller, would go very pleasantly over a flat country; but no man living could hold him down a hill without a gag bridoon. I had another who would run away to a certainty when with hounds, if once he got his head down, no matter how severe the curb bridle might be. When I bought him I had a most awful chifney given me, that had been made expressly for this horse; but he would go away with that. I put a twisted gag snaffle in his mouth; with this he never pulled more than I wished him; I account for this by concluding that when he got his head down he brought the bearing of the bit on a part of his mouth that from some cause or other was quite insensible to pain or pressure.

Curb bits are made in such infinite variety, that to describe them all

by words only would be impossible, or at any rate it would be impossible to so describe them as to bring each particular variation in form clearly to the eye of persons who have not paid much attention to the subject. The curb bridle, be its form what it may, if suited to the horse's mouth, is a most useful adjunct to the bridoon, which should in all casss be considered the riding bridle, for no horse is fit for a gentleman as a riding horse that requires the curb rein as the general one in use. The curb bridle is useful as an occasional aid, restraint, or punishment; but it should be used only as such, and for this reason: there was a time when the "hard and sharp" was in great vogue as a bridle for road riding; this was simply a short-cheeked curb bit, and with a single rein; but the consequence of the use of this bit was this-we will suppose a man had a hack whose mouth was not good enough for a snaffle, a "hard and sharp" was resorted to, probably a Pelham with a single rein; the horse went more, or perhaps quite pleasantly in this, but for how long? He got accustomed to this from the constant use of the same rein; he then began to hang on this as he had done on the snaffle; the portmouthed "hard and sharp" was then tried with the same temporary good result as the Pelham; but the same constant use of the bit brought the animal's mouth to be as insensible to it as it was to the original snaffle; and so it would in time become to the severest bit Latchford could manufacture, if that bit was used alone.

For this reason no horse that requires a bearing-rein in harness should never have it attached to the driving-bit; he leans on that bit, consequently when we want him to obey the driving-rein we find his mouth insensible to the touch. True, the curb coming into use has some effect; but that in such a case chiefly acts on the jaw, for the bearing-rein having all along kept the same bit in close contact with the bars of the mouth, they have become deadened; so the little extra pressure on them from the action of the curb is almost unfelt, and if a uniform pressure by the driving-rein is kept up for some time, the horse will care no more for that than he did for the bearing-rein, and will hang as heavily on the driver's hand as he had all along done on the bearing-hook. The only way I ever found I could drive a boring horse (when I was unfortunate enough to have one to drive) is this-put a bridoon in his mouth, bear him up tight with this, and let him lug or bore on that as long as he likes; have a driving bit, one that can make him mind it when called into action; let him only feel that when wanting to check, guide, turn, or stop him; it is true that by boring on the bearing-rein bit his mouth gets dead to that; but while bit, rein, and bearing-hook hold, he must keep his head in a tolerable position; the driving-bit catches him in a fresh place, and that not having been deadened it takes him as it were by surprise, and he obeys the hand of the driver.

The only bit as a hard-and-sharp that I consider becomes a horse, or that he goes well in, speaking generally, is the one that has a joint on each side where the part joins the mouth-piece, and again one on each side where the mouth-piece is joined to the cheeks; with this bit, if the horse begins to hang heavy on the hand, by loosening our hold and then tightening therein again, the bit takes a bearing on a fresh part; this keeps the mouth alive, and as such bits mostly and always should have loose rollers on the mouth-piece each side the port, they shift a little on moving the bit, and add to the difference of the pressure, which is the greatest means of

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