INTRODUCTION. 137 



be forced into the flesh, eight pence ; if the flesh 

 be forced to the bone, sixteen pence." * 



Until the latter part of the tenth century, neither 

 the Anglo-Saxons nor the "Welsh employed horses 

 in the plough ; but about that period, some innova- 

 tion of the kind must have occurred, since a Welsh 

 law prohibits the farmer to plough with horses, 

 mares, or cows, oxen alone being lawful. On a 

 part of the border of the so called Bayeux tapestry, 

 representing the landing of William the Conqueror 

 and the battle of Hastings, A. D. 1066, a piece of 

 needlework ascribed to the dexterity of Saxon em- 

 broiderers, there is a representation of a man driv- 

 ing a horse attached to a harrow; which is the 

 earliest instance we have of horses used in field 

 labour. 



With the Norman conquest, effected by adven- 

 turers from every country in the west of Europe, 

 a marked improvement took place in the breed of 

 horses : the martial barons and their followers had 

 brought with them a great force of cavalry, and they 

 were sensible that it was owing to superiority in 

 horse the victory had been obtained. It was then 

 the effect of the Spanish breeds extended to Eng- 



* According to the Anglo-Saxon computation, forty-eight 

 shillings made a pound, equal in silver to about three pounds 

 of our present money ; in value to fifteen or sixteen pounds : 

 five pence made one shilling. " The Horse," page 23. There 

 were also the qualities required to constitute a good horse, in 

 triplets, 3 of a woman, 3 of a lion, 3 of a bullock, 3 of a sheep, 

 3 of a mule, 3 of a deer, 3 of a wolf, 3 of a fox, 3 of a serpent, 

 and 3 of a hare or cat ! All whimsically applied. 



