ANTIQUITY AND HISTORY OF THE PACING HORSE. 159 



racing in England, but left one of the most important parts out. 

 Even Mr. Whyte, one of the most prominent of modern writers, 

 in his "History of the British Turf," seems to have followed some 

 other writer, in the omission; or possibly, as he never had seen a 

 pacer in England, he concluded that Fitz Stephen had only imag- 

 ined that he saw, in one part of the field, horses moving at the 

 lateral gait. In the paragraph quoted above, I have italicised 

 that part of the description which English writers on turf sub- 

 jects have omitted with remarkable uniformity. 



This seems to have been the period in which the pacing horse 

 reached the highest point in official and popular appreciation, at 

 least since the days of the Roman occupation of Britain. In 

 speaking of this period, Mr. Lawrence says: "All descriptions of 

 saddle horses were taught to amble" (that did not amble natu- 

 rally), "and that most excellent and useful gait, the trot, was 

 almost entirely disused." In addition to the evidence of Fitz 

 Stephen, we have that furnished by the Great Seals of a succes- 

 sion of sovereigns commencing with Richard L, and continuing 

 to Elizabeth. These seals represent a knight in armor, mounted 

 on a pacing horse in action, and perhaps the most conspicuous, 

 at least the clearest, impression that has come down to us is that 

 of King John, used at Runnymede, when he yielded to the de- 

 mands of his barons and granted the Magna Charta. This act 

 secured the liberties of the Anglo-Saxon race for all time and in 

 all climes. 



Mr. Thomas Blundeville was, probably, the first writer on the 

 horse who undertook to publish a book in the English language 

 on that subject. This book, entitled "The Art of Riding," was 

 merely a translation from the Italian, with some brief observa- 

 tions on English horses added to it. The first edition, it is said, 

 was published hi London, 1558, the year that Queen Elizabeth as- 

 cended the throne. The only edition which I have been able to 

 find in the British Museum is that of 1580, in old English black 

 letter. In quoting from the old authors of that period I will 

 seek to avoid confusion by using the modern orthography. In 

 speaking of the horses of his day he says: 



" Some men would have a breed of great trotting horses meet for the war 

 and to serve in the field. Some others again would have a breed of ambling 

 horses of a mean stature for to journey and travel by the way. Some, again, 

 would have a race of swift runners to run for wagers or to gallop the buck, or 

 to serve for such like exercise for pleasure. But the plain countryman would 

 have a breed only for draft or burthen. 



