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crown of England, it was found necessary to restrain, by an express 

 law, the too prevailing passion of the Scots for horse-racing, and laying 

 large bets on the event. By this la^, no man was permitted to win 

 above one hundred marks, the surplus being declared the property of 

 the poor; the collector, sheriff, or justices being bound to prosecute 

 on information, or forfeit double the amount. An act was also passed 

 in Scotland, in the same reign, to restrain all ordinary persons from 

 keeping Horses at hard meat, between the 15th of May and 15th of 

 October, that practice being held one, * among other occasions of dearth 

 of victuals.' Earls, prelates, lords, or great barons, or any of his 

 Highness's privy-council or session, and landed gentlemen, who could 

 spend of their own one thousand marks of yearly rent, all charges 

 deducted, were however excepted. 



In a former reign, that of James III, the following singular and 

 admonitory law was made, respecting the shoers of Horses. It was 

 ordained, that every farrier, who, in shoeing, pricked a Horse's foot, 

 through ignorance or drunkenness, should deposit the price of the 

 Horse, until he were sound, and in the interim, furnish the owner 

 with another Horse; the pricked Horse not being cured, the owner to 

 be indemnified by the farrier. Scotland, as early as the reign of the first 

 James, must have possessed a breed of Horses of considerable repute, 

 since it was then found necessary to restrain their exportation by law. 

 And in the reign of James VJ, when the demand for foreign parts, 

 Y>a.rticu\ar\y BowdeaiLT, was so great as to occasion a scarcity and 

 dearth of Horses in Scotland, it was prohibited by law, to transport out 

 of the realm any Horse whatever, on pain of forfeiture to the king 

 of such Horse, and likewise the ship and goods of the transporter. 



During the reign then of the pacific and luxurious James, horse- 

 racing, previously only an irregular and occasional diversion, may 

 be said to have become general and national, and to have at once 

 appeared nearly in the same style, as to essentials, as we view it in 

 the present times. Races were called Ball-Courses, of the etymology of 

 which term, a hint has been already given. Regular prizes Avere now 

 run for in various parts of England, but with most eclat in Yorkshire, 

 particularly at Garterly ; and at Croydon and Enfield, in the vicinity 



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