bearing disappears as soon as
he gets in motion. There is no pretence of the fine old centaur theory,
that horse and rider are one; there is no attempt to preserve the
straight leg and stiff carriage which distinguishes the American
military seat; the _dragon_, or the _cuirassier_, stoops forward and
jounces up and down in his saddle like any amateur. The President's
cavalry escort comes down the Champs-Elysees bumpety-bump, with an
anxious and uneasy expression, instead of a proud and martial one. The
officers, of course, ride better, and look very fine cantering out to
the Bois in their peg-top red trousers and high boots; but it may be
noticed that the only occasion on which they abandon their swords is on
these equestrian promenades. Otherwise, officers and men are never seen
without their side-arms, excepting an occasional escort of a
wagon-train. These weapons are not allowed to trail, and there seems to
be no method known of hooking them to the belt so that the wearer can
walk comfortably; they are therefore carried in the left hand, or nursed
under the left arm. As they are very long and heavy, with steel
scabbards,--with the exception of the straight cuirassiers' swords, far
heavier, both in blade and grip, than any of the sabres of the First
Empire, and as the wearers are by no means always tall men, they are
sufficiently cumbrous. The shapeless, full trousers, and the leathern
leggings in imitation of boots, combined with the heavy shoes and the
inelastic tread of these dismounted cavaliers, give them an appearance
that an English drill sergeant would scarcely consider "smart." The
dragoons of the picked Garde Republicaine wear a blue uniform with the
Napoleonic horse-tail helmet, and high boots, and have a much more
efficient appearance; but there is not to be seen in Paris as truly
imposing and martial a figure as a mounted sentry of the Horse Guards on
duty. The undersized, callow, and youthful infantry soldiers seen in the
streets are such evident rustics, in spite of their uniform, that the
contemner of war drops an additional tear as he passes them. It may be
observed that this uniform, with its red and blue, white gloves and
white gaiters, is peculiarly adapted to being picked out by the enemy's
sharpshooter at the longest possible range in a green landscape. The
gloves and gaiters, however, promptly disappear in active service.

[Illustration: AN ESTAFETTE.]

The most coveted position in the French a