charger, took up a position on the south side of Westminster Bridge, to distribute bills and point out with his sword the pathway through the fields that led to his Riding School. And that it was a school in reality, as well as name, we learn from the following advertisement:
The True and Perfect Seat on Horseback.—There is no creature yields so much profit as the horse; and if he is made obedient to the hand and spur, it is the chief thing that is aimed at. Mr. Astley undertakes to break in the most vicious horse in the kingdom, for the road or field, to stand fire, drums, &c. And those intended for ladies to canter easy. His method, between the jockey and the ménage, is peculiar to himself; no gentleman need despair of being a complete horseman that follows his directions, having eight years’ experience in General Eliott’s regiment. For half-a-guinea he makes known his method of learning any horse to lay down at the word of command, and defies any one to equal it for safety and ease.
The writer, who is thoroughly acquainted with the subject, must state here, en passant, that Astley subsequently published two books on horsemanship, training, and breaking: one entitled “The Modern Riding Master;” the other, “A System of Equestrian Education;” and these works fully prove that he knew and practised everything that Rarey, long afterwards, assumed to have discovered. The only difference in their systems was, that Rarey employed the spirit-crushing and terrible punishment of strapping up the fore-leg to every horse, under every circumstance; while Astley, well-knowing its evil tendency, applied it only occasionally, and, as a last resort, when all other methods failed.
From the first, Astley saw that his performances were deficient in variety; so, by energetic teaching, he soon made two other excellent performers, his wife, and the white charger. To make the most of the horse’s performance, he interlarded it with some verses of his own composition: introducing the animal, and ordering it to lie down dead, he would thus address the audience:—
My horse lies dead apparent in your sight,
But I’m the man can set the thing to right;
Speak, when you please, I’m ready to obey—
My faithful horse knows what I want to say;
But first give me leave to move his foot,
That he is dead is quite beyond dispute.
[Moving the horse’s feet.
This shows how brutes by Heaven were designed
To be in full subjection to mankind.
Arise, young Bill, and be a little handy.
[Addressing the horse.
To serve that warlike hero Granby.[1]
[Horse rises.
When you have seen all my bill exprest,
My wife, to conclude, performs the rest.
The Riding School being uncovered, there were few spectators on wet evenings. As a partial remedy, Astley, with a few boards and his own willing hands, ran up a shed, to which he charged two shillings for admission. Industry and good conduct soon brought its legitimate reward; and so he was enabled, with an eye to the future, to invest two hundred pounds, as mortgage, on a piece of ground near Westminster bridge. Good fortune followed. The mortgagor went abroad, leaving a quantity of timber on the ground, and was never heard of after. About the same time, too, Astley found, on Westminster bridge, a diamond ring, worth seventy guineas, that was never claimed by the loser. With this assistance, he erected a new Riding School, on the spot of mortgaged ground, ever since associated with his name. This place was open at the top, but, next the road, there was a wooden edifice, the lower part of which formed stables, the upper, termed “the long room,” held reserved seats for the gentry. A pent-house partly covered the seats round the ride, and the principal spectators being thus under cover, Astley now advertised to perform “every evening, wet or dry.” There is a scarce engraving which represents the exterior of Astley’s Riding School about this time. The entrance was reached by steps from the road, and a green curtain covered the door, where Mrs. Astley stood to take the money. To the whitewashed wall were affixed bills and pictorial representations of the performances; the figures of horses, seen on the top, were of painted wood. It was about 1770 that this new house was opened; the first bill relating to it we have seen states that—
Mr. Astley exhibits, at full speed, the different cuts and guards made use of by Eliott’s, the Prussian, and the Hessian Hussars. Also the manner of Eliott’s charging the French troops in Germany, in the year 1761, when it was said the regiment were all tailors.
About the same time, increasing his company, he invoked the comic music, bringing out that time-honoured delight of rustics and children, “Billy Button’s ride to Brentford.” When the season in London was over, he removed his troupe to Paris, a practice he continued for many years, with great success. At this period he used to parade the west-end streets on the days of performance. Astley led the procession, in military uniform, on his white charger, followed by two trumpeters; to these succeeded two riders in full costume, the rear being brought up by a coach, in which the clown and learned pony sat and distributed handbills. But in the following year he announced that he had given up parading, “and never more intends that abominable practice.” And Master Astley, then but five years of age, made his first public appearance, riding on two horses.
Astley next brought out a new entertainment, styled in the bills “Egyptian Pyramids; or, La Force d’Hercule.” It consisted in the now well-known feat of four men supporting three others on their shoulders, these again supporting two more, the last, in their turn, supporting one.
This was long a very favourite and attractive spectacle, and Astley erected a large representation of it on the south end of the Riding School. He also named his private residence Hercules House, after this tour de force, and the street in Lambeth, now called Hercules Buildings, derives its name from the same source.
The centre of the Riding School, being still uncovered, caused many inconveniences, and Astley, as early as 1772, ever provident for the- ↑ The Marquis of Granby, the popular military hero of the day.
