in the manège, a rest or support for the horseman's foot, for enabling him to mount, and for keeping him firm in his seat. Stirrups were unknown to the ancients. The want of them in getting upon horseback was supplied by agility or art. Some horses were taught to stoop to take up their riders; but the riders often leapt up by the help of their spears, or were assisted by their slaves, or made use of ladders for the purpose. Gracchus furnished the highways with stones, which were intended to answer the same end. The same was also required of the surveyors of the roads in Greece, as part of their duty. Menage observes that St Jerom is the first author who mentions stirrups. But the passage alluded to is not to be found in his epistles; and if it were there, it would prove nothing, because St Jerom lived at a time when stirrups are supposed to have been invented, and after the use of saddles. Montfaucon denies the genuineness of this passage; and, in order to account for the ignorance of the ancients with regard to an instrument so useful and so easy of invention, he observes, that while cloths and housings only were laid upon the horses' backs, on which the riders were to sit, stirrups could not have been used, because they could not have been fastened with the same security as upon a saddle. But it is more probable, that in this instance, as in many others, the