OCR Text |
Show HORSES IN HISTORY. W Certain Heroes Killed Their Horses to Inspire Their Men. 'THE NOBLE SNOW WHITE HOESE" Inewered Eoll Call Inviting an InvitationMissed Invita-tionMissed a Good Thing. Among noted horses In history are Roan Barbary, the famous steed of Kich-trd Kich-trd the Second; "ttie noble horse as white as snow," which carried Henry the Fifth on the great day of Agincourt; and the horse ridden by Jeanne d'Arc, which was also white, as became her virginal purity. Then there are the gallant steeds which belonged to the king maker, the Earl of Warwick. At Towton, where the White Rose triumphed mainly through the earl's generalship and courage, he ! tode a horse named Maleoh; and, at the crisis of the battle, when the Lancastrians Lancas-trians were gaining the upper hand, inspired in-spired his men to renewed efforts by killing his horse, to shew that he would , rather die than retreat. Here is Mon-atrelet's Mon-atrelet's description of the incident: "The earl, hearing that his uncle was eljtin and his men defeated, cried out with tears. 'I pray to God that he will receive the souls of all who die in this battle;' then exclaimed, 'Dear Lord God, I have none other succor 'but thine in this world now, who art my creator and redeemer; I ask vengeance therefore at thy hands!' Then, drawing hi sword, Tie kissed the cross at the handle, and said to his men, 'Whoever chooses to return re-turn home may, for I shall live or die this day with such as may like to remain with me.' On saving this he dismounted and killed his horse with Mb sword." This exploit was frequently performed by the mediaeval heroes; and Warwick himself repeated it at Barnot, his Inst field, when he rode his favorite black destrier, Saladin, an animal of great size and beauty. "He kissed the destrier on his frontal," says Lord Lytton, in his brilliant historical histor-ical romance of "The Last of the Barons, Bar-ons, "and Saladin, as if conscious of the coming blow, bent his proud head humbly, hum-bly, and licked his lord's steel clad hand. Ho associated together had been horse and horseman, that had it been a human hu-man sacrifice the bystanders could not have been more moved. And when, covering the charger's eyes with one band, the earl's dagger descended, bright and rapid, a groan went through the ranks.' But the effect was unspeakable. The men knew at once that to them, and them almerlioir lord entrusted his fortunes and his life, and they were moved to more than mortal daring." The favorite horse of Richard the Third was called "White Surrey." There are other historical horses if I may so call them-Hjf which one would gladly have learned something; as, for instance, the steed which Hernando Cortez rode on hia great victory over the Aztecs, whom the Spanish chargers filled with wild dismay; that of Gustave Adolphus, when he received his death wound at Lutzon ; that of Sir Philip Sidney at Zut-phen; Zut-phen; and of John Hampden, as he rodu away, mortally wounded, from Chal-grove Chal-grove field, through the green glades, and under the shadow of tho beech trees; that of Sobieska, when he led his Polish warriors to the deliverance of Vienna; that of Marlborough, when he crushed the armies of France and Bohemia at Blenheimi William the Third was riding rid-ing his favorite horse Sorrel, in the park of Hamptoti court, when he met with his fatal accident. "He urged his horse," fiays Macaulay, "to strike into a gallop just at the spot where a mole had been at work. Sorrel stumbled on the mole hill, and went down on hia knees. The king fell off, and broke his collar bono." Tho Jacobites celebrated Sorrel in many a bitter pasquinade, as if the poor horse had been the willing agent of liis royal master's death. At the battle of the Alma if Mr. Kinglako may be trusted .Lord Raglan and hia horse turned the tide of victory iu favor of the allies, by ascending a knoll right within the midst of the Russian position, and thus impressing impress-ing the enemy with .a sense of defeat. "The knoll stood out bold and plain. It was clear that even from afar the enemy would make out that it was crowned by a group of plumed officers; and, Lord Raglan's imagination being so true, and so swift, as to gift him with the faculty of knowing how, in given circumstances, other men must be thinking and feeling, it hardly cost him a moment to infer that this apparition of a few horsemen ' on the spur of a hill was likely to govern tho enemy's fate," All tho Year Round. |