i6 RACING. 



in the county of York, Croydon, and sometimes Theobalds or 

 Enfield Chase, were then the usual places of exhibition allotted 

 for the fleetest races. 



The races were then conducted upon the same principles, 

 and nearly on the same rules, as at present, and the horses 

 were prepared for running by the discipline of food, physic, 

 airing, sweating, and clothing. The weight to be carried by 

 each horse was also rigidly adjusted, and the usual weight of 

 a rider was stated at lo stone. 



The most respectable races throughout the kingdom were 

 called ' Bell Courses,' the prize or reward of the conquering 

 horse being a bell. It may therefore be submitted as a con- 

 jecture, whether the phrase of 'bearing the bell,' ^ which implies 

 being comparatively the best, is not more aptly deduced from 

 this custom, and thus more forcibly applied, than from the 

 method of tying a bell round the neck of the sheep which leads 

 the flock, and is therefore supposed to be the best. James I. 

 built ample stables at Newmarket, near the Palace. These 

 were afterwards rebuilt by Charles II., and again in the middle 

 of this century by the Rothschilds. These stables have been 

 since occupied by many trainers of note, and of late years, 

 before belonging to the Rothschilds, by Godding, whose em- 

 ployers — Lord Uxbridge, Mr. Naylor, and Captain Little, all 

 well known on the turf — trained there such horses as General 

 Hess, Carnival, Macaroni, and other equine celebrities. 



King James bought an Arabian horse of one Mr. Mark- 

 ham, a merchant, for which he gave 500/. It was the first of 

 that country which had been seen in England, though it seems 

 surprising, considering the several expeditions to the Holy 

 Land and other parts of the East, that none had even been 

 imported before. 



The Duke of Newcastle, in his treatise on horsemanship, 

 says he saw the Arabian above mentioned, and describes him 

 as a small horse of a bay colour, and not very excellent with 



^ Or from the French ' La Belle,' the best of three games, as races were run 

 in heats. — Ed. 



