DEATH OF COLONEL TAYLOR. BLINKERS. 241

on the chain and lower jaw, the checks of the bit comeback on a line with the bridle, so nothing further than theaction of a snaffle is produced by a bit a foot long. Thus itis that we every day hear of horses running away, “ shock-ing accidents,” fractured skulls, &c. Not so with the Turks,Arabs , South Americans, and those people who are themost celebrated in the management of horses. Talk to anyof these of a horse running away with them, they would notunderstand you, because they understand how to bridle ahorse. It is a mistake to suppose, that by putting on thebit and curb chain as it ought to be, that therefore it isunpleasant and “hard” upon the horse’s mouth. On thecontrary, ^the bit is then kept steady, without the archfidgetting the roof of the mouth. The rider is not bound tobear upon the bridle ; but when he does pull, the horse mustobey. We all know how the Turks and Arabs will gallopup to you, or to a wall, and in the space of a yard or twostop their horse, stiff on all four legs, as though he hadsuddenly been turned to stone. I have been led into theseremarks upon bits and stirrups principally by recollectingthat the same Colonel Taylor, shortly after I saw him atNaples, lost his life in Portugal at the battle of Vimiera (Ithink) entirely owing to the false arrangement of his bit.While gallantly heading a charge against the French , hishorse leaped a ditch, or took to a pace which very few ofhis men could follow. He thus found himself almost alone,within a hundred yards of the enemy. All might yet havebeen well with him, had he been able to stop and turn hishorse; but his bridle had no power ; he was seen to pull itwith all his might, without any effect; his horse carriedhim straight into the'enemy’s ranks ; and they, not knowinghis dilemma, received him on the points of their lances orbayonets, so that he was killed. The kind of horse he rode,too, was not that fitted for war. It was a regular “ hunter,”

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