Of late years a change has come over the equestrian drama. The circus
flourishes, and quadrupeds figure now and then upon the stage, but the
"horse spectacle" has almost vanished. The noble animal is to be seen
occasionally on the boards, but he is cast for small parts only, is
little better than a four-footed supernumerary. He comes on to aid
the pageantry of the scene; even opera does not disdain his services
in this respect. A richly-caparisoned charger performs certain simple
duties in "Masaniello," in "Les Huguenots," "L'Etoile du Nord,"
"Martha," "La Juive," and some few other operas. The late M. Jullien
introduced quite a troop of cavalry in his "Pietro il Grande," but
this homage to horseflesh notwithstanding, the world did not greatly
prize the work in question. The horse no longer performs "leading
business." Plays are not now written for him. He is no longer required
to evince the fidelity and devotion of his nature by knocking at
street-doors, rescuing a prisoned master, defending oppressed
innocence, or dying in the centre of the stage to slow music.
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