THE ENGLISH 21' 



ard " all those whose wives wore velvet bonnets," should keep stallions 

 for the saddle at least fifteen hands high. These ordinances perished with 

 the tyrant by whom they were promulgated. 



The reign of Henry VIII., produced the earliest English treatise oB 

 agriculture, a^d the management of horses and cattle. It was written by 

 Sir A. Fitzherbert, Judge of the Common Pleas, and contains much useful 

 information. It is entitled, " Boke of Husbandry ;" and, being now ex- 

 ceedingly rare, an extract from it may not be unacceptable. It would 

 seem that the mare had been but lately employed in husbandry, for he 

 says, " A husbande may not be without horses and mares, and specially if 

 he goe with a horse-ploughe he must have both, his horses to draive ; hi.s 

 mares to brynge colts to upholde his stocke, and yet at many times they 

 may draive well if they be well handled." The learned judge shared the 

 common fate of those who have to do with the horse. " Thou grasyer, 

 that mayst fortune to be of myne opinion or condytion to love horses, and 

 young coltes and foles to go among thy cattle, take hede that thou be not 

 beguiled as I have been a hundred tymes and more. And first thou shalt 

 knowe that a good horse has 54 properties, that is to say, 2 of a man, 2 of 

 a badger, 4 of a lion, 9 of an oxe, 9 of a hare, 9 of a foxe, 9 of an asse. 

 and 10 of a woman."* 



The tyrannical edicts of Henry VIII. had the effect which common 

 sense would have anticipated, — the breed of horses was not materially im- 

 proved, and their numbers were sadly diminished. When the bigot, Philip 

 of Spain, threatened England, in the reign of Elizabeth, with his Invin- 

 cible Armada, that princess could muster in her whole kingdom only three 

 thousand cavalry to oppose him ; and Blundeville, who wrote at this time 

 a very pleasant and excellent book on the art of riding, speaks contemp- 

 tuously of the qualities of these horses. The secret of improving the 

 breed had not been then discovered ; it had been attempted by arbitrary 

 power ; and it had extended only to those crosses from which little good 

 could have been expected : or, rather, it had more reference to the actual 

 situation of the country, and the heavy carriages, and the bad roads, and 

 the tedious travelling which then prevailed, than to the wonderful change 

 in these which a few centuries were destined to effect. 



Blundeville describes the majority of our horses as consisting of strong, 

 sturdy beasts, fit only for slow draught, and the few of a lighter structure 

 being weak and without bottom. There were, however, some exceptions ; 

 for he relates a case of one of these lighter horses travelling eighty miles 

 in a day — a task which in later times has been too often and cruelly ex- 

 acted from our half-bred nags. 



An account has been given of the racing trial of the horses in Smithfield 

 market. Regular races were now established in various parts of England. 

 Meetings of this kind were first held at Chester and Stamford ; but there 

 was no acknowledged system as now ; and no breed of racing horses. 

 Hunters and hackneys mingled together, and no description of horse was 

 excluded. 



* Later writers have pirated from Sir A., but have not improved upon him. The fol- 

 lowing- description of the horse is well known. " A good horse should have three quali- 

 ties of a woman, — a broad breast, round hips, and a long mane ; — three of a lion, — coun- 

 tenance, courage, and fire; three of a bullock, — the eye, the nostril, and joints, — three 

 of a sheep, — the nose, gentleness, and patience; — three of a mule, — strength, constancy, 

 and foot; — three of a deer, — head, legs, and short hair; — three of a wolf; — throat; neck, 

 and hearing ; — three of a fox, — ear, tail, and trot ;— three of a serpent, — memory, sight, 

 and turning'; — and three of a hare or cat, — running, walking, and eupplenees." 



