of Alken, full as they are of practical truth, are sors who have died in the vain pursuit. We more fitting for Mr. Fore's attractive colored-print neither pretend to teach it, nor the art of driving; window in Piccadilly, than the picture saloons of from well knowing that in a course of classics a Florence or Dresden. The fact is, the jealous little learning is a dangerous thing, we conclude it and exclusive love of our amateur towards indi- is not less so in careers where collar-bones may vidual horse and hound, for its own sake, will not be compromised; and yet men, and women too, take less than absolute identification nor bate one in the mass, imagine that they can drive by intuisingle hair. Short almost as the life and love of tion and mere volition, as a Frenchman fiddles. any one man is, less enduring is the art which is According to Hieover, ninety-nine out of a hunlimited to give the form and pressure of his par-dred of such charioteers labor under monomania, ticular ends and affections; to confer immortality and, fit at best for hearses, are on the road to and fill the gallery, art must soar as high and free ruin and suicide every time they mount the box ; as Ariel; the utmost mere resemblance can do is an amateur driving a gig may be more safely proto stock the garret-that sure and sole refuge of nounced respectable than longevous; and we susthe destitute, that last bourne, and from whence pect the life of a dandy, ignorant of rudder and there is no return, to which the third generation rigging, and caught yachting in a storm off the dutifully consigns daubs of grandsires, their dams Needles, is scarcely more insurable at Lloyds, than and studs. the neck of a volunteer Jehu, who does not know a bit from a brace, would be at Tattersall's if run

Enough, however, of his errors in æsthetics: for these he makes ample amends in other depart-away with in Rotten-row. ments. Especially are we pleased to observe that Hieover is never more pithily instructive than Hieover, albeit no ultra-moralist, preaches and when handling the ribbons. For their successful practises principles of humanity to the full as manipulation a special talent is required, combinmuch as his gallant rival in sport and authorship. ing a clear head, quick eye, fine hand, strong Cruel as he admits the chase to be, a fact which nerve, and presence of mind; and these rare gifts foxes probably will not dispute, he urges all who must be perfected by much practice, whether the pursue them to be as tender at least to horse and feat be to insinuate a French diligence wagon into hound, as that judicious hooker Isaac Walton was a porte cochère, or to halloo a Spanish coche de when trolling for jack with live frogs. It is as colleras along a dry river-bed--whether the passenmuch, too, from hating their cruelty as despising gers' van from the Red Sea is to be full-galtheir ignorance that he expresses such undisguised loped into Cairo by an Arab cad in a bernouse, or contempt for the whole pack of grooms; vulgar a fast coach brought to time into the Saracen's pedagogues, says he, and pains-taking perhaps, Head by a top-sawyer in an upper-benjamin. Hapbut whose instructional principle-condemnation pily the rail, which has ruined half our sweet valof their charge's visual organs, enforced with a leys, country ins, and ostlers, has delivered Engpitchfork-is wrong. Naturam expellant furcû.lish horses from the rack and wheel of "fast Such a course of education, and adorned eloquence, oppositions;" these torturing concerns, now schedis only suited for that great and growing nuisance uled away, could only be horsed by thoroughthe stable-boy. Colts may be frisky from play-breds, so essential were blood and pace-blood, but these urchins play tricks from pure monkey- because it endured more, not from its suffering fondness for mischief and lad-love of cruelty; "the being less, but fortitude greater-pace, because lash ad libitum is mercy to this age sans pitié ;"matched against time; and how killing both are, to reason with them he holds to be no less a waste few fast men fail to find out. It was in these of words than with most grown-up grooms, whose rival comet coaches, which kept pace with the conceits and prejudices neither permit them to un-double quick march of intellect, that the learn the bad nor learn the good; they forever stages of cruelty were gone through by the highfall back on what they call experience, which is, mettled hunter, who, having, during his prime nine times out of ten, a dogged continuance in the faithfully served the lords of the creation, was in old and generally the worst way, and which mere- his old age bought cheap to drive to death"ly enables them to do wrong with greater facility. no Wakley near, no crowner's quest law handy! Even those expensive articles, stud-grooms, differ" Look ye," said a proprietor (one of Hieover's (if we may rely on the plain-spoken demi-solde) pleasant acquaintance) to his executioner, "I more in degree than kind; fortunately they only don't mind skinning a horse a-day-only keep occur in strata where grooms of the chamber and tier upon tier caxon coachmen are deposited; such cormorants can only collect where the carrion is commensurate. Aptly therefore may Hieover quote from Zara

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your coach in front." Let no more be said against the brutal bull-fight of the blood-thirsty Spaniard; there one horn-thrust gives the coup-degrâce to blindfolded barbs, and a brief pang supersedes protracted agonies-peace to their manes ! And if below there be retaliation in Rhadamanthus, a particular paddock, out of sight and hearing although his own was picked up on the highways of Master Harry's pianistic Elysian Fields, will and byways; but whether it be got in college or be assigned to these monster masters when their in coach-box, a man's life is too short to obtain a course is run. Hieover, judge-advocate general perfect knowledge of fox-hunting-so say profes- for friendless four-footed ones, never spares the

'Tis education makes us all

lash where biped culprits are brought up to the | Hook, who used to maintain that everything in Far more true and pathetic is his picture this world turned on six-and-eight-pence.

bar.

of poor English posters than Sterne's sickly senti- Money undoubtedly makes the mare to go; but mentality over French donkeys. "The fresh the uncertainty of the cost is the question which horses out" and changed for happy pairs in char- deters many, who otherwise would rather be cariots and four, the inside fare, swiftly wafted as ried than walk, from meddling with stables. In love-thoughts over hard roads, heed not the pant-proof of how much the consequent expenses vary, ing flanks they leave behind, more than suppres- Hieover cites instances of different friends of his sion-of-cruelty societies do in London, or dozing own where the outlay for keeping two horses senators at St. Stephen's; but humanity now-a- ranged from one to three hundred pounds a-year days is local, and confined within the bills of mor-—sums which he thinks may have been spent on tality and we leave Colonel Hutchinson to ex-food, if butchers or bakers were included among plain why the cruel dog-cart is prohibited in the the purveyors. Neither Mill nor Malthus ever capital-possibly that parliamentary Broughams propounded sounder principles of political econmay not be incommoded-and yet the canine nuisance is left to stink no less in country nostrils than the city sewers do to those of cockneys, lords and commons in their wisdom having also declined meddling with the unsavory monopoly.

omy than our author as regards animal and vehicular locomotion. Let his disciples of both sexes only be true to themselves, admit their incapability of managing stables, make no pretensions to it, nor prate about things which they don't understand, Hieover dips deeply into these matters, which and they may reckon on their paths being renwe must decline; his philippics cannot fail to dered pleasant and peaceful, and in the long run for touch the hardest hearts of gentlemen; a some- much less money. Gentlemen and ladies, espething, too, is hinted at carriages being kept wait- cially the latter with good fortunes, who from ing by gentlewomen long after midnight in rain widow or spinsterhood have unfortunately no male and cold, while warm nothings are listened to. guardian to look after their stable concerns, are Assuredly the tender hearts of the fair sex have advised by all means to adopt the plan which, no conception of the pains they often unwittingly since the reform bill, has been tried in Downing inflict on noble creatures who administer to their street, on a large scale, with commensurate sucpleasures. I betide, however, the churl who cess. They should make a point of always joblooks for motes in bright eyes; their white hands bing. Tiptop job-masters, unless Hieover be a can do-designedly, at least-no wrong; natural- whig or a wag, are all as."honorable men?' as ly, therefore, Hieover and Co., while they mere-first-rate horsedealers; they would sooner suply glance at a little thoughtlessness about certain points, spare neither space nor pretty words to laud the tender rein-handling of equestrian ladies. In this, depending as it does on smoothness of restraint and delicacy of feeling, they necessarily must excel; hence, trying as long-continued cantering is to the horse, with what perseverance does the gallant beast keep on! "Oh! happy beast to bear the precious weight!" This female tact is the secret why Colonel Greenwood "has seen the taper tips of the most beautiful fingers in the world to restrain the highest-mettled, hottest horse, and rule him at his wildest." The importance of the hand in riding and driving might be seen exemplified in Miss Ducrew, and may be conceded, without going the lengths of most gypsies and some veterinary professors in chierological inductions-for the hand, we fancy, is quite as likely to indicate the condition of its giver's stomach, as of his or her mental disposition and future destiny. Sir Charles Bell's scientific and charming work on the hand human is in in every one's; suffice it therefore to say that the sporting variety is defined to be "spathulate [Anglice, shaped like a battledore,] fully developed, rounded, with cushionary termination of fingers, and a large thumb." Such a sporting conformation, whether male or female, must be no joke; but, be it clenched or open, a stud-owner will be constantly perplexed how to keep it most out of his pocket, and probably agree with poor Theodore

press a despatch than a feed of corn; and then they always keep a goodly supply of rough sturdy veterans to do the more trying night-work, while sleek and pampered prancers are exclusively dedicated to the lighter duties of the day. And here we may just remark that a perfect lady's ridinghorse is no less desirable than a perfect bachelor; to secure one is the great difficulty, and no good offer should be rejected; nor should absolute perfection be required, for a first-rate palfrey, like a poet, nascitur non fit; so much must nature do for him; besides, good looks, generous disposition, great courage and power, too, are essential“none but the brave deserve the fair;" moreover, as a lady's work is considerable and continuous, he should be equal, according to Hieover, to a stone or two above her weight. Let not our fair readers despair, for something may be made of a less accomplished beast of burden, if, like a husband, he be early broken in; then his duties end in becoming rewards and pleasures; one thing our ex-dragoon insists on-no alarm or even notice must be taken of a drum or a red coat.

Not only carriage-horses but coachmen and helpers should all be jobbed in the lump; those indeed must get up early who hope to grapple with such centaurs, not fabulous, who consume more oats than clans of Highlanders. If the job-master is not to keep the furnished animals, biped and quadruped, board wages and livery stables are the lone dowager's best security; the

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is chaff, and very useful it is as a mixture-but chaffing must not be carried so far in mangers as it is sometimes in cavalry messes. Horses are very fond of carrots-and so unfortunately are coachmen's wives. Enough of this; the great secret of getting horses into tip-top condition is good care, sufficient corn, and fast work; give them plenty of these, and they are seldom sick or sorry; but should such a sad casualty befall them

for even horseflesh is grass-send them at once to Field. "No disease, your ladyship may depend upon it, is so dangerous or so expensive as

cost may then be calculated on to a certainty and he has done his work some bruised beans may be the worst known at once. Hieover found, upon added, not before, or colic is the corollary. The comparing a hundred horses kept in private and beans must be old, and then they comfort a beast, public stables, three to one more cases of rough as tawny port does a senior fellow at Brasenose; coats, coughs, colds, cracked heels, and other ills insomuch that, once upon a time when oats were to which horseflesh is heir, in the former than the at a killing price, Hieover fed his stud entirely on latter. A respectable liveryman hates a beggarly beans and bran, and compares the benefits to a account of empty stalls and boxes; let him thor-course of brandy with, or of one of sherry without, oughly understand that the turn-out will be con- water. The bran is as essential an addition to tinued with him so long as justice is done to it, high feeding as rice is to curry; and kin to bran and no longer-that is enough. He thoroughly understands his business, and so do his stablemen; sad scamps as in sober truth they are, none ever try kicking over the traces with a master who is their match. The difference between professional and private stable-masters, according to Hieover, is grammatical; "the one at the nick of time says, Eo, and goes himself; the other says Ito, go thou —which naturally ends in I O U." And here we may observe that our author, however fond of quoting Latin, Spanish, French, and Italian, drives four horses better than four languages; we are no less puzzled how to scan ne fronte fides" a doctor-groom." (Pocket and Stud, p. 21,) than to construe "HuThe transition to stables is easy; and although manum sum," &c. (Stable-Talk, i. 99 ;) but dog horses do live in them, more die from them than Latin is natural to foxhunters. We have, per is dreamed of in some men's philosophy, so selcontra, no fault to find with the summing or cal- dom do they unite what is essential to health and culations of our polyglott Cocker, who, having comfort; they are constructed by blundering enumerated the many causes, besides food, which builders or ornamental architects, who borrow make the expense of keeping a pair much more more from Vitruvius than the Veterinary Colthan double that of a single horse, as bachelors discover when they marry, defies the majority of grooms and coachmen to throw out his bill, when he puts one horse, with four feeds of corn a-day, at 10s. 8d. per week, and two at 751. 10s. per annum. This, which he proves to the fraction of a barley-corn-we omit the arithmetical vexation -will open the water-filling eyes of many Clar-place; buckets in the way break shins, and are enced spinsters and charioted widows, when their accounts are next brought in. It may conduce to some comfort to set before them a correct dietary irrespective of cost; for neither man nor beast can enjoy bonne chère avec peu d'argent, nor live, like lovers, on flowers. Locomotives, whether horse or steam, require more substantial fuel.

lege. The first requisite is dryness-your damp is a sore decayer. Ample means for ventilating should abound, so as to insure an average heat of about 60° Fahr. An iron rack in the corner prevents waste of provender and crib-biting; and gas is preferable to candles, as a little straw makes a great fire. Everything should be kept in its right

neither ship-shape nor stableman-like; above all, no nails-and mark! no lodgings in lofts: a married coachman, with an active wife and restless cubs above, will banish innocent sleep, nature's best restorer, below, to say nothing, if the good housewife deals in fresh eggs, of her poultry's partiality to oats. As a standing rule, the paveBe it therefore remembered, that fragrant, soft, ment of the stalls should be perfectly level. On sweet upland hay, although the dearest, is the the relative merit of stalls versus boxes, which cheapest in the long run; bad hay is poison any-perplexes the Haymarket, we differ entirely from how-" bellows to mend, and no mistake." Six- Hieover; he is an examiner of motives, not musteen pounds of good hay a day is enough, and cles, and, exceedingly well as he anatomizes a better than a feast, for any horse; 12 lbs. is fully" leg," has by no means got the length of the sufficient for a hunter, although few grooms can horse's foot. Mr. Miles must be his monitor; be got to believe it. Horses' stomachs vary like his capital book, we learn, is now in its sixth men's; but servants, "whose good digestion ever edition, so completely has the public verdict ratiwaits on appetite," have an instinctive love for fied our summoning up of its humane and philowasting whatever their masters (à fortiori their sophical principles, (Q. R. No. clv.) Hieover is mistress) pays for. Oats should be rationed, as already far too knowing to be ashamed, and by no in the army, by weight, not measure, and they means too old to learn more; Ancora imparo was should be two years old and heavy into the bar- the motto of Michael Angelo when rising eighty. gain, for horses will set seriously to work on a 40 lbs. to the bushel sample, who only think about it, "tenui meditantur avenâ," and trifle with lighter husky stuff. If his labor be hard, a horse should have a peck and a half per diem; and after

From a lesson which the captain gave to a bright ornament of French law, it would appear that the schoolmaster abroad will have no sinecure, since even the judgment of Paris is no longer infallible in horse flesh; and these matters are bet

their precepts as "The Pocket and the Stud" of Mr. Hieover. The least the single ladies of this congregation can do in return is to present him (now that he is a sober preacher) with a handsome service of plate for his tea-table.

ter managed in our shop-keeping, horse-dealing We have done enough, we hope, to recommend nation than across the water. Once upon a time this writer's octavos to such lovers of horses and it fell out that Hieover was driving his tilbury hunting as have not chanced to encounter them— over the hideous roads of la belle France, and en- his new duodecimo to all who desire to consult countered a bebloused charretier, who gave him the interests of the purse in the arrangements of just one foot of room less than the width of his the stable. Few books are so sure to save large axletrees; consequently, the British gig was amounts of L. S. D. to those who duly study smashed, and cost twenty pounds in repairs. Our countryman, not satisfied with soundly thrashing the Frenchman and his dog, went to law for damages, but did not obtain one farthing, because the lighter vehicle ought to have given way to the heavier. On his pleading ignorance of the Code Napoléon, the judge rejoined, "Il faut donc qu'il l'apprenne." Presently, trotting home by night on the soft side instead of the centre of a paved road, down came his valuable horse into an open drain, getting up thirty pounds per knee the worse for the fall. Again he went into court, and again redress was denied, because he had not kept the right side of a French grand chemin, and the judicial admonition was repeated, "Il faut qu'il l'apprenne

donc."

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From Blackwood's Magazine.

traction and interest far more from the skill and

THE ROMANCE OF RUSSIAN HISTORY.* lation of Lajetchnikoff's striking and interesting PROFESSOR SHAW, in the preface to his transromance, The Heretic, notices the shyness of English novelists in approaching Russian ground. "How happens it," he says, "that Russia, with her reminiscences of two centuries and a half of Tartar dominion-of her long and bloody strugSoon after it chanced that M. le Juge's wife, gles with the Ottoman and the Pole, whose terriwhose passion was riding, pined for an English tories stretch almost from the arctic ice to the palfrey. Hieover, remembering a beautiful lady's equator, and whose semi-oriental diadem bears horse at home, which had gone broken-winded inscribed upon it such names as Peter and Cathaand was worthless, sends over his groom, buys rine-should have been passed over as incapable of him for an old song, and lets an English girl ride supplying rich materials for fiction and romance ?” him about; "le heau cheval, doux comme un The question is hard to answer, and appears doubly agneau," attracts all eyes, and M. le Juge begs to so after reading the third volume of Monsieur A. send a friend to inspect him. "I have not,' Blanc's recent work on political conspiracies and executions-a volume sufficient of itself to set complacently adds Hieover, spent so much those romance-writing who never wrote romance money about horses without being able to make a broken-winded one fit to be examined." The before. It is a trite remark, that romances, havhorse passes; and one hundred and fifty Napo- ing history for their groundwork, derive their atleons are paid down. "Out of kindness to the animal," continues Hieover, "I desired the French groom not to give him any cold water that day; those initiated in such matters will know why; the groom did not. Il faut qu'il l'apprenne donc, thinks I." Next evening M. le Juge requests M. le Capitaine Hieover to look at the animal, who, Our readers need not to be reminded of others of of course, was blowing away like a blacksmith's bellows. "What was de mattere ? a different and of one, great amongst all, the rays Vas de horse indisposé?" of whose genius have formed a halo of grandeur, Eh, non, Monsieur, il est poussif, voilà tout." "Vat vas he to do?" "Ce glory, or fascination, around persons to whom hisBut such genius n'est pas mon affaire cela," said the captain. tory accords scarcely a word. The Juge got frantic. "Now," says our hero, is not of every-day growth; and to historical "for the coup de théâtre-I reminded Monsieur of romance-writers of the calibre of most of those the broken gig and broken knee decisions; he re- with whom the British public is now fain to cry cognized me in a moment. Now, Monsieur,' content, the mere devising of a plot, uniting tolsays I, 'what have you got to say? You wanted erable historical fidelity with some claim to origa beau cheval-you have him. You wanted a do- inality is an undertaking in which they are by no cile one-you have that also. I said nothing means uniformly successful. To such we recomabout his being sound; you have no fault to find mend, as useful auxiliaries, M. Blanc's octavos, with me.' 'Mais mille tonnerres! I no vant and especially the one that suggests the present de hors broke in de wind, dat go puff all de article. English and Scottish histories, if not used day long.' 'C'est possible,' says I, have at least been very handsomely 'mais cela up, m'est parfaitement indifférent; you trusted to worked, and have fairly earned a little tranquillity your friend's judgment.' 'Bote my friend have upon their shelves; the wars of the Stuarts, in no jugement for de horse.' 'Il faut, Monsieur,' *Histoire des Conspirations et des Executions Polisaid I, making my bow, 'qu'll l'apprenne donc.'"tiques, comprenant l'Histoire des Societés Secrètes depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours. Par A. -Stable-Talk, vol. i., p. 452. BLANC. 4 Vols. Volume the Third: RUSSIA.

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genius of their authors than from the importance of the period selected, and from the historical prominence of the characters introduced. It is unnecessary to name writers in whose hands a Bayard or a Duguesclin, a Cromwell or a Charles of Sweden, would appear tame and commonplace.

particular, have contributed more than their quota to the literary fund. The same may be said of the history of France, so fertile in striking events, and so largely made use of by purveyors to the circulating libraries. Italy and Spain, and even Poland, have not escaped; whilst the East has been disported over in every direction by the accomplished Morier, and a swarm of imitators and inferiors. But what Englishman has tried his hand at a Russian historical romance? We strive in vain to call to mind an original novel in our language founded on incidents of Russian history -although the history of scarcely any nation in the world includes, in the same space of time, a greater number of strange and extraordinary

events.

easily entail a disquisition of a length that would leave very little room for an examination of the book in hand. And all that we seek in the present instance to establish will be readily concedednamely, that in the throes of a country accomplishing with unprecedented rapidity the passage, usually so gradual, from barbarism to civilization, some palliation is to be found for the faults and vices of her nobles and rulers, and for the bloodstains disfiguring her annals.

The early history of Russia, from the foundation of the empire by Rurik to the reign of Ivan IV.-that is to say from the middle of the ninth to the middle of the sixteenth century—is a chaos of traditions and uncertainties which M. Blanc has deemed unfavorable to the project of M. Blanc's book, notwithstanding a certain air his book, and which he accordingly passes over in of pretension in the style of its getting up, in the an introductory chapter. His business, as may very mediocre illustrations, and in the tone of the be gathered from his title-page, is with the internal introductory pages, is substantially an unassuming convulsions of the country; and these are difficult performance. It is a compilation, and contains to trace, until Ivan Vassilivitch threw off the Tarlittle that is not to be found printed elsewhere. tar yoke, and his grandson Ivan IV., surnamed At the same time, perhaps in no other work are the Tyrant or the Terrible, began with an iron the same events and details thrown together in so hand, it is true, to labor at the regeneration of his compact and entertaining a form. The author country. A bloodthirsty despot, Russia yet owes troubles us with few comments of his own, and him much. The people, demoralized by Tartar his reserve in this respect enhances the merit of rule, needed rigid laws and severe treatment. Ivan his book, for when he departs from it his views promulgated a code far superior to any previously are somewhat strained and ultra-French. But his in use. He invited to Russia foreign mechanics, narrative is spiritedly put together; and although artists, and men of science; established the first it will be found, upon comparison, that he has, for printing-press seen in the country; and laid the the most part, faithfully adhered to high historical foundation of Russian trade, by a treaty of comauthorities, to the exclusion of mere traditionary merce with our own Elizabeth. By the conquest matter and of imaginative embellishment, yet the of Kazan, of the kingdom of Astracan, and of disdramatic interest of the subject is itself so vivid, tricts adjacent to the Caucasus, he extended the that the book reads like a romance. limits of the Russian empire. But his wise enactments and warlike successes were sullied by atrocious acts of cruelty. In Novogorod, which had offended him by its desires for increased liberty, he raged for six weeks like an incensed tiger. Sixty thousand human beings, according to some historians, fell victims on that occasion. Similar scenes of butchery were enacted in Tver, Moscow, and other cities. His cruel disposition was evident at a very early age. He was but thirteen years old when he assembled his boyarins to inform them that he needed not their guidance, and would no longer submit to their encroachments on his royal prerogative. "I ought to punish you all,” he said, for all of you have been guilty of offences against my person; but I will be indulgent, and the weight of my anger shall fall only on Andrew Schusky, who is the worst among you. Schusky, the head of a family which had seized the reins of government during the czar's minority, endeavored to justify himself. Ivan would not hear him. "Seize and bind him," cried the boy-despot," and throw him to my dogs. They have a right to the repast." A pack of ferocious hounds, which Ivan took pleasure in rearing, were brought under the window, and irritated by every possible means. When they were sufficiently exasperated, Andrew Schusky was thrown amongst them. His cries increased their fury, and his body was torn to shreds and devoured.

The Russian history, even to our own day, is a sanguinary and cruel chronicle. Its brevity is its best excuse. The youth of the country extenuates the crimes of its children. For if the strides of Russia have been vast and rapid in the paths of civilization, we must bear in mind that it is but very recently the progress began. "At the commencement of the eighteenth century," says M. Blanc, "it had been very difficult to foresee that fifty years later a magnificent and polite court would be established on the Gulf of Finland; that soldiers raised on the banks of the Wolga and the Don would rank with the best disciplined troops; and that an empire, of itself larger than all the rest of Europe, would have passed from a state of barbarism to one of civilization as advanced as that of the most favored European states." This is overshooting the mark, and is an exaggeration even a hundred years after the date assigned. If the civilization of St. Petersburg has for some time vied with that of London or Paris, Russia, as a country, has even now much to do before she can be placed on a footing with England or France in refinement and intellectual cultivation. It is difficult to institute a comparison in a case where the nature of the countries, the characters of the nations, and the circumstances of their rise, are, and have been so dissimilar. The investigation might

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