30 



Blundeville, of Newton Hotman, in Norfolk, 

 ere this date, had published a curious little 

 black-letter volume, entitled " The Art of 

 Ryding and Breaking Great Horses" (1566), 

 which was sold by William Seres, at " The 

 Sygne of the Hedgehogge," in St. Paul's 

 Churchyard. Some extracts from this very 

 interesting little work have been given in 

 a previous book.* 



JAMES I. (1603-1625). 



The feature of King James's reign was 

 the formation of a racecourse at New- 

 market, which had previously been a 

 favourite hunting-ground of Royalty, and 

 continued to be so, at least till James II.'s 

 time. 



Mr. J. P. Horef says that the King 

 probably resided at an inn known as " The 

 Griffin," and held court there during his 

 early visits, and that this inn subsequently 

 became the King's own property. It is 

 quite certain that Newmarket as a Turf 

 centre dates from the time of James I. ; he 

 spent some days there in the year 1605, 



* The Great Horse or War Horse. Third edition. By 

 Sir Walter Gilbey, Bart., Vinton & Co., Ltd., 1899. 

 I " History of Newmarket." 



