86 



ner of the ancients. This appears to have been the chief school in 

 which the youth assembled in order to practise their martial lessons, 

 and it was customary every Sunday in Lent, after diimt-r, for troops well 

 mounted and armed with lances and shields, to issue through the city 

 gates for the field, where it \vas the fate of many a young hero to get 

 unhorsed by his superior or more fortunate antagonist, and to have at 

 least his dinner disturbed in his belly, if no worse mishap, Here, how- 

 ever, Ave have the strongest proof of the martial spirit of the times, 

 which perhaps the different mode of warfare since adopted, has con- 

 tributed to repress equally with the prevailing spirit of commerce. 

 Beside these warlike skirmishes, boys were set on horseback and rode 

 races, urging the Horses to their utmost exertions, to animate and en- 

 courage which, the spectators cheered them with loud shouts and accla- 

 mations. This kind of irregular racing was, it appears, the only one 

 in practice, until about the reign of Elizabeth, or perhaps somewhat 

 previous to her time. 



From the reign of Athelstan, to the period of which we now speak, 

 a gradual improvement took place in the size and form of the English 

 Horses, the first and most valued class of which, were those calculated 

 for the parade and the troop ; the imported continental Horse, however, 

 alwaj^s took the precedence in price and estimation. Htreafter follow 

 such descriptions and appellations of the different classes, as have been 

 handed down from contemporary writers. 



The first class was styled dediarius, or 7nagnus equus, the great 

 Horse, that is, the thoroughly dressed or managed Horse. Other 

 Horses for the saddle, Avere classed and distinguished as coursers, pal- 

 freys, amblers, nags, hacknies and ponies or hobbies. Those intended for 

 quick draught, Avere called great trotting Horses. There AAere also 

 great double trotting Horses for the saddle, the word double being 

 probably used in the same sense as at present; such of them as had 

 the tail shortened were styled curtah : clotli-sek and male-Horse, those 

 Avhich carried the cloak-bag and male. The gcntil Horse was that Avhich 

 Ave should noAv distinguish as a well-bred hackney, and the gamhaUh/nge 

 Horse, a charger, so named from the Italian word gaudm, a leg, Avhich 

 the managed Horse is able to use in the most graceful way, and put 



forth 



