Beggar on horseback

Since horses have largely died out as a form of transport, this expression is not as common as it once was. ‘A beggar in a BMW’ would perhaps be more apt today. A beggar on horseback is a jumped-up person who has acquired recent wealth and luxury, which he or she uses to the detriment of others. It derives from a 16th century proverb that appears in many different wordings, but its complete form is, more or less, ‘set a beggar on horseback and he will ride to (or outride) the devil’ meaning that such a person does not know how to use wealth or position to good purpose. There is also a notion that beggars do not know how to care for the horses they ride, as exemplified by Shakespeare in Henry VI, Part III, Act I, Scene IV, when he wrote, “Beggars mounted run their horse to death.”