158 CYCLOPEDIA OP LIVE STOCK AND COMPLETE STOCK DOCTOR. 



no heed has been given to the statistics of agriculture or animal improve- 

 raent, and little mention made of such matters, beyond a casual and pass- 

 mg notice, even hy the best historians. 



III. The First London Race-Course. 

 '* ' The English,' proceeds the work from which I quote, 'had now,' 

 — ^that is to say in the reign of Henry I. — 'become sensible of the value 

 and breed of their horses ; and in the twelfth century a regular race-course 

 had been established in London, this being no other than Smithfield, 

 which was at once horse-market and race-coarse. Fitz Stephen, who 

 lived at that period, gives the following account of the contests between 

 the palfi-eys of the day. 'When a race is to be run by horses, which in 

 their kind are strong and fleet, a shout is raised, and common horses are 

 ordered to withdraw from out the way. Two jockeys then, or sometimes 

 three, as the match may be made, prepare themselves for the contest, 

 such as are used to ride, and know how to manage their horses MMth judg- 

 ment, the grand point being to prevent a competitor from getting before 

 Ihem. The horses on their part are not without emulation. They 

 tremble, and are impatient and continually in motion. At last the signal 

 once given, they hurry along with unremitting velocity; the jockeys 

 inspired with the thoughts of applause and the hopes of victory, clapping 

 spurs to their willing steeds, brandishing their whips and cheering them 

 with their cries.' 



IV. Horses taken to England by Crusaders. 

 " It IS stated by Mr. Youatt, although, singularly enough, he main 

 tains that the crusaders did not introduce eastern horses, that Richard I, 

 did import two from Cyprus, which he observes were of eastern origin. 

 The statement is made on the faith of an old metrical Re. nance, which 

 is that entitled by the name of the monarch whose feats it celebrated, 

 usually supposed to be of the time of Edward I., and contained in Ellis's 

 Metrical Romances. The lines are curious, as they indicate a full ac- 

 quaintance with various animals, natives of the East, and more particu- 

 larly with the especial qualities of the oriental horse, his speed and sure- 

 footed n ess, 



" These horses were named Favell and Lyard — 

 ' In the world was not their peer, 

 xjromedary, not destrere. 

 Steed 'rabyte, ne camayl, 

 That ran so swift sans fail, 

 For a thousand pounds of gold, 

 Should not that one be sold.' 



Destrere, is the old spelling of the word Destrier, in Norman French, 

 derived from the barbarous. Middle Age Latin, Dextrarius signifying a 



