ENGLISH BEEEDS 137 



no efforts were made to perpetuate or improve the race as it then existed, 

 and perhaps for the reason that Hunters were not required to do the same 

 work as the modern animal of the shires. 



fetill, even in those early days Hunters were not without admirers; for 

 so far back as the year 1602 Gervase Markham expi-esses himself as 

 follows: "The Hunting Horse, both for his virtue, strength, goodness, 

 and endurance, I place next to the horse of service ". Markham also 

 described at some length, and in his usually quaint style, " the three 

 especial characters or forces by which a man shall choose a good Hunting 

 Horse". These were: (l) his breed, (2) his colour, and (3) the shape 

 of his lineaments. Markham, however, in spite of his professions of 

 allegiance to breed, appears to have possessed a somewhat open mind, 

 as he commences his observations on the subject by stating that if the 

 horse were a bastard Jennet, or bastard Polander, he would not be amiss, 

 that is to say if the parent on one side were English bred. He never- 

 theless expressed a predilection for the native article. Markham was 

 still more catholic in his taste for colours, as bays, l)rowns, grays, and 

 roans were all admired by him; but he strongly oltjected to lilacks — on 

 superstitious grounds apparently — and chestnuts marked with white he 

 was also opposed to. The third property upon wliich Markham was 

 accustomed to base his opinions of a Hunter was shape, on which he 

 expatiates with unusual prolixity. Briefly, the points this old writer 

 looked for were a long, lean, large head, with a spacious, wide jowl, a 

 short sharp ear for preference (but if these organs were long and pointed 

 forward it was to be accepted as a sign of speed), a long and rising- 

 forehead, eyes full and round, and nostrils wide. The sort of neck 

 Markham liked to see was the straight and firm, " as it were of one piece 

 with the body", a strong broad chest, exceedingly short flat legs with 

 well-knit joints, and straight upright pasterns, the hoofs being strong and 

 yet long and narrow. Upon the question of the mane and tail, how- 

 ever, Markham was most emphatic, as he held that the thicker and denser 

 the hair of these were, the greater the sign of dulness, whereas if they 

 were thin it was a sign that the horse was possessed of spirit. 



John Lawrence, whose work was published in 1809, bears testimony 

 to the fact that a good deal of progress had somehow been made by the 

 Hunter since the days of Gervase Markham, but the chief credit for 

 what had been accomplished appears to have been due to Irish breeders, 

 for he commences his observations by stating of their horses that, " The 

 Irish are the highest and steadiest leapers in the world ". Lawrence, more- 

 over, does not show signs of being perfectly sound upon the question of 

 Thoroughbred blood, for he prefaces his description of a Hunter by saying: 



