THE HOliSE IN BRITAIN 543 



this time private race-meetings were instituted, to be followed later by 

 public ones, and that "nags" were in demand, and although carriages had 

 been introduced they were used only to a very limited extent. Ben 

 Jonson tells us how the grandees rode on horseback to the theatres, and 

 that when the great Shakespeare fled to London, from terror of a criminal 

 prosecution, his first expedient was to wait at the doors of theatres and 

 hold the horses of those who had no servants, in order that they might be 

 in readiness for their owners after the performance. In this capacity he 

 became so conspicuous for his careful attention that in a short time all who 

 alighted called for William Shakespeare, and scarcely anyone was trusted 

 with a horse if AVilliam's services could be obtained. Accordingly he hired 

 boys to act under his orders, who were called Shakespeare's boys, and for 

 years afterwards those who took charge of horses at the doors of theatres 

 were known as Shakespeare's boys. 



At this period a more active breed of horses began to be propagated as 

 the eff'ect of causes previously narrated, such as the disuse of heavy armour. 

 This gave rise to the cultivation of light " nags ", the existence of which, 

 a year after the Spanish Armada, Sir John Smythe deplores. He writes: 

 "Their horsemen, serving on horseback with lances or any other weapon, 

 think themselves well armed with some kind of head-piece and a collar, on a 

 deformed, high-bellied beast '". As the occupation of the great tournament 

 horse was "going", its propagation in great measure was discontinued; yet 

 an incentive to the breeding of stout horses still existed, as such animals 

 were required to draw the lumbering and heavy vehicles of this era across 

 countries and plains, over bad roads or where none existed. During the 

 Stuart dynasty consignments of large horses continued to be imported from 

 Flanders and Northern Europe, together with Barbs, Turks, Persians, and 

 Arabs, which by intermixture with our native breeds and between them- 

 selves succeeded in forming the ancestral stocks from which all British 

 equine breeds have emanated. 



The British cart-horse's descent can be traced from the great horse 

 originally imported from Flanders and Lombardy, but much improved since 

 those days by judicious crossing and careful selection of parents. The 

 Stuarts first introduced quality, but size was wanting; for when William III 

 ascended the throne, and sought to drain the Lincolnshire Feus, he found 

 that the British cart-horse of this date was not strong enough for the tasks 

 imposed upon him; consequently he imported large Dutch horses (the old 

 Lincolnshire Blacks). The Dukes of Ancaster also brought over to this 

 country similar breeds from Holland. This was the first step of any note 

 which gave an impetus to the improvement of our coarser equine stock, and 

 formed the main root from which our cart-horses have proceeded. Our 



