 he might otherwise have been exposed.
    Meanwhile his military education proceeded. Already a good horseman, he was
now initiated into the arts of the manège, which, when carried to perfection,
almost realise the fable of the Centaur, the guidance of the horse appearing to
proceed from the rider's mere volition, rather than from the use of any external
and apparent signal of motion. He received also instructions in his field duty;
but, I must own, that when his first ardour was passed, his progress fell short
in the latter particular of what he wished and expected. The duty of an officer,
the most imposing of all others to the inexperienced mind, because accompanied
with so much outward pomp and circumstance, is in its essence a very dry and
abstract task, depending chiefly upon arithmetical combinations, requiring much
attention, and a cool and reasoning head, to bring them into action. Our hero
was liable to fits of absence, in which his blunders excited some mirth, and
called down some reproof. This circumstance impressed him with a painful sense
of inferiority in those qualities which appeared most to deserve and obtain
regard in his new profession. He asked himself in vain, why his eye could not
judge of distance or space so well as those of his companions; why his head was
not always successful in disentangling the various partial movements necessary
to execute a particular evolution; and why his memory, so alert upon most
occasions, did not correctly retain technical phrases, and minute points of
etiquette or field discipline. Waverley was naturally modest, and therefore did
not fall into the egregious mistake of supposing such minuter rules of military
duty beneath his notice, or conceiting himself to be born a general, because he
made an indifferent subaltern. The truth was, that the vague and unsatisfactory
course of reading which he had pursued, working upon a temper naturally retired
and abstracted, had given him that wavering and unsettled habit of mind which is
most averse to study and rivetted attention. Time, in the meanwhile, hung heavy
on his hands. The gentry of the neighbourhood were disaffected, and showed
little hospitality to the military guests; and the people of the town, chiefly
engaged in mercantile pursuits, were not such as Waverley chose to associate
with. The arrival of summer, and a curiosity to know something more of Scotland
than he could see in a ride from his quarters, determined him to request leave
of absence for a few weeks. He resolved first to visit his uncle's ancient
friend and correspondent, with the purpose of extending or shortening the time
of his residence according to circumstances.
