29 



when the Earl of Cumberland won " the 

 golden bell." In 1599, the Corporation of 

 Carlisle took the sport under its patronage 

 and gave silver bells. According to Com- 

 minius, who wrote about the year 1590, 

 racing had grown out of fashion at that 

 period ; the old sport of tilting at the 

 quintain had been revived and was appar- 

 ently a more popular spectacle. It is pro- 

 bable that suspension of public interest in 

 racing was of a very temporary character, 

 for Bishop Hall, in one of his Satires, pub- 

 lished in 1599, refers to the esteem in which 

 racehorses were then held. 



Queen Elizabeth retained her love of 

 sport and the physical ability to indulge 

 it to an advanced age. It is said that in 

 April, 1602, being then in her sixty-ninth 

 year, she rode ten miles on horseback and 

 hunted the same day. 



Following the example set in Edward 

 VI.'s reign, Sir Philip Sydney engaged 

 two Italian experts named Prospero and 

 Romano, to teach riding ; the Earl of 

 Leicester, the Queen's Master of the Horse, 

 also had among his suite an Italian horse- 

 man, named Claudio Corte, who wrote a 

 book on the art of riding, which was 

 published in London, in 1584. Thomas 



