The Express.
London, England, 1853-08-26 00:00:00

A FRENCH PHILOSOPHER ON THE HORSE.

The real horse is the emblem of the true gentle-
man. So perfect is the resemblance between the two types,
that there can be no dispute about their analogical relation-
ship. Either the Arab horse signifies the cavalier, or he
has nothing at all to say for himself. Observe, in fact,
how the animal seems to pant for war in every movement
of his body and every aspiration of his soul. Ilia Dun-
n% nostrils expand and smoke; his impatient feet tear
up the ground; his ardent eye darts lightning, and de-
ours space ; his mouth champs the bit, and whitens it with
foam ; his elegant and dishevelled mane undulates and rises
as his passions boil ; ►is tail expands into a fan-like plume.
He displays seltedulation and pride before the eyes of the
crowd, and prances at the sound of his own praises. Listen
to the shrill neigh which is the declaration of his jealous
fury; bear that voice, which is more warlike than even
the trumpet itself. It is ever a provocation to combat, a
menace of death. If you cannot recognise in these features
the legendary knight, the hero of the crusades, the cavalier
with glittering arms and floating plumes, anxious only to
shine and to please—thirsting for tournaments, penis,
pomp, and Toussenel will not waste words upon
you. • • • What gave rise to the mendacious pro-
verb that Paris is the Hades of horns and the paradise
of women, is not known. If ever two destinies
ran parailel to each other, it is surely that et' the
Parisian belle and the Parisian horse, considered both as
objects of luxury. The Boulevart and the Bois de BJU.
logne are their common paradise, as long as beauty, health,
and youth endure. The hackney coach, and public disdain,
are afterwards the Erebus et each : and lovely creatures,
which had beta endowed with to many faculties to please,
arrive at last at the fatal goal—at Dlontfaucon and the hos-
pital—after having run through the very same career.
Paris consumes annually nearly fifteen thousand horses.
Atxiut the same number of young girls are every/ear sacri-
ficed there before the Minotaur of vice. Yes ! The horse
is fallen in France ; and so is gentlemenhood. The off-
spring of Bayard are dragging the tumbril ; whilst the peer
of France murders his wile, or traffics in mining and rail-
way shares. The son of heroes sells the shield
of his ancestors to serve as a sign for the stalls
of Judah. If the proud Gallic hon., so terrible
in battle, who fought himself, by kicking and biting, as
flurcely as his cavalier—if both he and his noble rider have
perished, because they knew not how to make a worthy use
of the precious gifts with which they were endowed ;—at
least let their ruin be a lesion for the future to all
others of the lame race. Ye horses and gentlemen be
warned by the avenging voice of revolutions, end learn that
the duties of indiduals are in direct proportion to the
faculties ; that the more we can, the mote we ought to do,
to increase the happiness of our brothers in Ood ; that the
indolence and painting' of those who sre neither idiots nor
paralytic, are veritable robberies committed against society
—and strive, henceforward, to conform your conduct to
these principles.—Leick.exa's" Household Words."