As an author, he had some claims to the position he desired; for he had written a standard work. During his exile he produced a book entitled A New Method and Extraordinary Invention to Dress Horses, and work them, According to Nature by the Subtlety of Art. This is mainly an exposition of what is known as the haute école of horsemanship; thus the most ponderous volume on what we now talk of as the French style of riding was written by an Englishman. It is a gorgeous folio, beautifully printed, splendidly illustrated; and a good copy is worth about ten guineas at the present moment. If it were a new book, modern booksellers would doubtless advertise it either as an “édition de luxe,” or as “a sumptuous volume”.
One of the best editions is that by J. Brindley, London, 1743. That the book was a success, and a great success, the most malignant caviller at Newcastle cannot fairly deny.
The work is illustrated by Diepenbeke, whose representations in it of the Welbeck of those days, and of Bolsover Castle, have a special interest. Editions were published in London, Paris and Nuremberg, both in English and in French. In this magnificent volume the reader may learn how to train his horse to make curvets, pirouettes, demi-pirouettes, passades, voltes and demi-voltes, terms which may also be found in modern French books upon horsemanship.
Men who fancy that they know all about hunters may be surprised at their own ignorance when they read that “Your Hunter ... need not be kept ... to an exact regimen of diet: any clean food is fit for him”. If a horse’s wind is broken, it is a simple matter to mend it again by feeding him on fat bacon, sweet oil, and brandy figs, or by dosing him with small shot, pounded in a mortar and mixed with sulphur. Among other remedies for the horse will be found “A receipt for ruined nerves,” as well as “A remedy for the head-ach,” a malady seldom complained of in modern stables.
No notice of the life of Newcastle would be complete without a few quotations from the book with which his name is chiefly associated. Let us begin with a description “Of the true Seat and the necessary Actions of a good horseman.[154] Before a horseman mounts, he ought first to take care that all his horse’s furniture be in order, which is soon done, without prying into every minute circumstance, to show himself an affected connoisseur in the art. When he is seated (for I take it for granted that everyone knows how to mount a horse)”—a large assumption—“he ought to sit upright upon the twist, and not upon the buttocks, though most people think they were made by nature to sit upon; however it is not so on horseback.
[154] P. 29.
“When he is thus placed upon his twist in the middle of the saddle, he ought to advance, as much as he can, towards the pommel, leaving a hand’s breadth between his backside and the arch of the saddle, holding his legs perpendicular, as when he stands upon the ground, and his knees and thighs turned inwards towards the saddle, keeping them as close as if they were glued to the saddle; for a horseman has nothing else but this, together with the balance of his body, to keep himself on horseback. He ought to fix himself firm upon his stirrups, with his heels a little lower than his toes, so that the ends of his toes may pass about half an inch beyond the stirrup, or something more. He should keep his hams stiff, having his legs neither too near, nor too distant from the horse; that is to say, they should not touch the horse’s sides, because of the aids which shall afterwards be explained.
“He ought to hold the reins in his left hand, separating them with his little finger, holding the rest in his hand, having the thumb upon the reins, which should be held strait over the horse’s neck.
“He should have a slender switch in his hand, not too long, like a fishing rod, nor too short, like a bodkin; but rather short than long, because there are many useful aids with a short one, that a long one will not admit of. The handle of it ought to be a little beyond the hand, not only for the sake of caressing the horse with it, but likewise to hold it the faster. The right hand, that holds the switch, ought to advance a little before the bridle hand, with the small end of the switch pointing to the inside.