HISTORY OF HORSE-RACING. 17 



regard to shape — a description applicable to the famous horse 

 since known as the Godolphin Arabian. 



Henry, Prince of Wales, the son of James, had an early and 

 eager inclination to those exercises which tend at once to 

 engage and employ the mind, form the body, and add grace 

 to vigour and activity. He therefore cultivated horseman shi]:* 

 with industry, and the art would have found in him its greatest 

 ornament and support, had not death prematurely deprived 

 the world of this amiable Prince, and the manege of a pro- 

 moter and protector. He was under the tuition of an ex- 

 perienced horseman named Saint Antonius, and received his 

 lessons in a riding-house in St. James's Palace. 



Several writers on the subject of horses speak of this young 

 Prince's attachment to equestrian exercises, with regard to 

 hunting as well as the inancge ; and mention the hopes that 

 were once conceived of the advantages the kingdom would 

 derive from the studs which he had formed, and the races he 

 had established. 



In this reign the merits of English horses began to be so 

 evident that many were purchased and sent into France, where 

 they continue to be much valued and admired. Bassompierre, 

 in his Memoirs, gives us the following account of their first 

 introduction into France : 



The Court (he says) being at Fontainebleau, it was the practice 

 to play for large and serious sums ; and the circulation being ex- 

 tremely brisk, the courtiers called the counters, which represented 

 money, Qimzterots, because they passed and repassed from one 

 player to another with as much celerity as the English horses 

 were known to run. These were called Qumferots, from the 

 name of the person who had brought them into France the year 

 before. 



He further observes : ' That English horses were so much 

 admired for their speed that they have since that time been 

 always employed in hunting and on the road — a practice until 

 then unknown.' 



Towards the conclusion of the reign of James I. it appears 



c 



