HISTORY OF HORSE-RACING. 19 



for * times of disport ' by which it is presumed racing and the 

 chase were meant, and for these they were reserved. 



The first races held at Newmarket took place in this reign, 

 about 1640, although the round course was not made till 

 1807. 



In D'Urfey's collection of songs, supposed to have been 

 written about this time, one called ' Newmarket ' runs thus : 



Let collies that lose at a race 



Go venture at hazard to win ; 



Or he that is bubbled at dice, 



Recover at cocking again. 



Let jades that are foundered, be bought ; 



Let jockies play crimp to make sport ; 



Another makes racing a trade, 



And dreams of his prospects to come, 



And many a crimp match has made 



By bubbing l another man's groom. 



Burton, in his ' Anatomy of Melancholy,' says : ' Riding of 

 great horses, running at rings, tilts and tournaments, horse 

 races, and wild-goose chases, which are disports of greater men, 

 and good in themselves, though many gentlemen by such 

 means gallop themselves out of their fortunes.' 



It is possible, Whyte says, that by wild-goose chases steeple- 

 chases are meant, and would thus be mentioned for the first 

 time, so far as he can find. But this is a theory which requires 

 more confirmation. 



Whyte tells us that Mr. Place, so well known in sporting 

 literature through his famous horse White Turk, was master of 

 the stud to Oliver Cromwell ; but the civil war of the time, 

 whilst it must have interfered with the sport, also caused a 

 scarcity of record. 



It was during his exile in 1658 at Antwerp that the Duke 

 of Newcastle wrote his ' Methode et Invention Nouvelle de 

 Dresser les Chevaux/ originally written in French, and giving 



1 Bribing. 



c 2 



