182 STOCKBREEDER'S ART AND ROBERT BAKEWELL 



time of war had endured " the shock of wrathful iron arms," J and 

 in peace was the " foot-cloth " horse, 2 and three times stumbled 

 under Lord Hastings, 3 gives place to the " prince of palfreys " 

 who " trots the air " and makes the earth sing as he touches it with 

 his elastic tread. 4 As highways improved, travellers journeyed 

 more easily and more often. The ambling roadster, whose artificial 

 gait was comparatively easy, was supplanted by the hack ; the 

 coach-horse and the waggon-horse began to dispute the monopoly 

 of the lumbering " great horse " and the pack-horse. Sport was 

 also adapting itself to the changing conditions of society. Racing 

 and hunting became fashionable. Though Shakespeare had heard 



" of riding wagers, 



When horses have been nimbler than the sands 

 That run i' the clock's behalf." 8 



and was aware that " switch and spur " 6 were plied in a " wild- 

 goose chase " on the Cotswold Hills, he knew nothing of the modern 

 race-course. Races, then, were trials rather of endurance than of 

 speed. Nor was pace much needed in Tudor hunting ; a " good 

 continuer," 7 or, as w r e might say, a good stayer, was more necessary. 

 In coursing the hare, only the greyhounds must be fleeter than 

 " poor Wat." The red deer was followed by hounds " slow of 

 pursuit " 8 and by men armed with leaping-poles, except on those 

 rare occasions when the great hart was hunted " at force." At 

 hawkings, unless the long-winged peregrine flew down wind, horse- 

 men were not pushed to the gallop ; the short-winged goshawk 

 exacted from his pursuers no turn of speed. But as agriculture 

 advanced, the red deer's covert was destroyed, and his extermination 

 demanded as an inveterate foe to the crops. So, too, the sport of 

 falconry was doomed, when hedgerows and enclosures displaced 

 the broad expanse of open-fields, and the partridge no longer 

 cowered in the stubble by the edge of the turf -balk under the 

 tinkling bells of the " towering " falcon. 9 Another beast of the 

 chase and other means of capture were needed. Shakespeare stood 

 on "no quillets how to slay " 10 a fox with snares and gins. But 



* Ric. II. Act i. Sc. 3, 1. 136. * 2 Hen. VI. Act iv. Sc. 7, 1. 62. 

 8 Ric. III. Act iii. Sc. 4, 1. 83. 



* Hen. V. Act iii. Sc. 7, 1. 17. Comp. also Fen, and Ad. st. 50, where 

 Blundevill is closely copied. 



6 Cymb. Act iii. Sc. 2, 11. 72-4. Rom. and Jul Act ii. Sc. 4, 1. 75. 



7 Much Ado, Act i. Sc. 1, 1. 149. " Mid. N. D. Act iv. Sc. 1, 1. 129. 



* Macb. Act ii. Sc. 4, 1. 12. 10 2 Hen. VI. Act iii. Sc. 1, 1. 261. 



