144 INTRODUCTION. 



to its size, and each at least thirteen hands high, 

 should be kept ; and that all his prelates and nobles, 

 and " all those whose wives wore velvet bonnets," 

 should keep stallions for the saddle, at least fifteen 

 hands high. These regulations, though they died 

 with the obstinate and wTong-headed king, effected 

 little towards improvement, but greatly diminished 

 the number of horses; for when Elizabeth, forty- 

 one years after, called out the whole strength of her 

 chivalry to oppose the expected invasion of the 

 Spaniards, she could muster only three thousand 

 men-at-arms mounted; and Blundeville, who wrote 

 on the art of riding, speaks with contempt of the 

 qualities of the horses. Yet there existed then a 

 valuable showy breed in England, eagerly bought 

 by foreign grandees for state occasions, particularly 

 when they were white or light grey, as is proved by 

 the notice of Aldrovandus, who died blind and aged 

 eighty, in the year 1605. The majority, neverthe- 

 less, were strong sturdy animals, fit for slow draught, 

 and the few of lighter structure were weak and 

 without powers of endurance. But now commenced 

 the practice of racing, chiefly at Chester and Stam- 

 ford ; and although these were as yet without sys- 

 tem, admitting hunters and hackneys and every 

 description of horse, the foundation was laid of that 

 rising improvement in English horses, to which we 

 shall revert when the particular breeds of the pre- 

 sent time are reviewed. "' 



* See " Tlie Horse," page 27. Grooming, on the English 

 plan, was already an object of attention abroad j for JMaiirice, 



