216 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



although, as I have suggested, it is possible that the 

 native horse of England obtained some beauty, grace, 

 and agility by an infusion of Eastern blood. 



Mr. Gilbey, so far as I know, is the only writer 

 who has endeavored to prove, though others have 

 asserted, the identity of the war horse of the Middle 

 Ages with the old black cart horse of England ; and 

 he relies almost entirely upon the evidence of coins 

 and other graven representations. But in such fig- 

 ures much must be allowed for the taste or caprice 

 of the artist, and I suspect that Mr. Gilbey's series 

 might be impugned by others. For the period be- 

 ginning about the year 1500 he shows the famous 

 white horse of Albert Dlirer, that has indeed the char- 

 acteristics of a cart horse. But in the College of 

 Arms there is preserved an illustrated roll, known 

 as Tournament Roll, commemorating a grand tour- 

 nament which took place at Westminster on February 

 12, 1510, in honor of Queen Katherine ; and the war 

 horse represented by this roll is a much finer beast 

 than Albert Diirer's. He has a beautifully curved 

 neck, a small, well shaped head, and he is disfigured 

 by no long hairs at the fetlock joints. This picture 

 may of course be idealized, but it is as good historical 

 evidence as the coins produced by Mr. Gilbey. The 

 whole matter is one of not very profitable conjecture, 

 but it is worth remembering that the Middle Ages, 

 during which the war horse was in daily use, consti- 

 tuted a long period, and it is hardly credible that in 

 this time a true war horse should not have been de- 

 veloped, more active, spirited, and beautiful than the 

 shire horse. One writer, indeed, of a date as early 

 as the sixteenth century, speaks of his high action, — 



