24 THE HORSE. 



British horse. To his superiority in cavalry this prince was chiefly 

 indebted for the victory of Hastings. The favourite charger of William 

 was a Spaniard. His followers, both the barons and the common soldiers, 

 carne principally from a country in which agriculture had made more 

 rapid progress than in England. A very considerable portion of the 

 kingdom was divided among these men ; and it cannot be doubted that, 

 however unjust was the usurpation of the Norman, England benefited 

 in its husbandry, and particularly in its horses, by the dhange of mas- 

 ters. Some of the barons, and particularly Roger de Boulogne, earl 

 of Shrewsbury, introduced the Spanish horse, on their newly ac- 

 quired estates. The historians of these times, however, principally 

 monks, knowing nothing about horses, give us very little information on 

 the subject. 



In the reign of Henry I. (a. d. 1121) the first Arabian hcse, or, at 

 least, the first on record, was introduced. Alexander I. king of Scotland, 

 presented to the church of St. Andrew's, and Arabian horse, with costly 

 furniture, Turkish armour, many valuable trinkets, and a considerable 

 estate. 



Forty years afterwards, in the reign of Henry II., Smithfield was cele- 

 brated as a horse-market. Fitz-Stephen who lived at that time, gives 

 the following animated account of the manner in which the hackneys 

 and charging steeds were tried there, by racing against one another. 

 " When a race is to be run by this sort of horses, and perhaps by others, 

 which also in their kind are strong and fleet, a shout is immediately 

 raised, and the common horses are ordei'ed to withdraw out of the 

 way. Three jockeys, or sometimes only two, as the match is made, 

 prepare themselves for the contest. The horses on their part are not 

 without emulation ; they tremble and are impatient, and are continually 

 in motion. At last, the signal once given, they start, devour the course, 

 and hurry along with unremitting swiftness. The jockeys inspired with 

 the thoughts of applause, and the hope of victory, clap spurs to their 

 w illing horses, brandish their whips, and cheer them with their cries." 

 This description reminds us of the more lengthened races of the present 

 day, and proves the blood of the English horse, even before the Eastern 

 breed was tried. 



Close on this followed the Crusades. The champions of the Cross cer- 

 tainly had it in their power to enrich their native country with some of 

 the choicest specimens of Eastern horses, but they were completely under 

 the influence of superstition and fanaticism, and common sense and use- 

 fulness were forgotten. 



An old metrical romance, however, records the excellence of two horses 

 belonging to Richard Coeur de Lion, which he purchased at Cyprus, and 

 were therefore, probably of Eastern origin. 



Yn this worlcle thoy hadde no pere 

 Dromedary nor destrerc, 

 Stede, Rabyte, ne Camnielc, 

 Goeth none so swifto, without fayle : 

 For a thousand pownd of golde, 

 Ne should the one be solde. 



The war-steed was defended by mail or plate, much on the plan of the 

 harness of the knight himself. His head was ornamented with a crest 

 The head, chest, and flanks, were wholly or partially protected ; and some- 

 times, he was clad in complete steel, with the arms of his master engraved 

 or embossed on his bardings. The bridle of the horse was always as splen- 



