THOROUGHBRED HORSES. \Ql 



war-horse. Edward I. also is known to have introduced horses from the 

 East ; and that accurate and inquiring antiquary, Sir Walter Scott, de- 

 scribes his spirit, or the demon of the haunted camp under his form, in 

 the nocturnal tourney with Alexander of Scotland, as being recognized by 

 the horse he bestrode. 



' Alike his Syrian courser's frame, 

 The rider's length of limb the same.' 



V. Bone and Btilk Imparted to the English Horse. 



" Spanish horses, had come to be renowned, as chargers, so early as 

 the Norman conquest, but it is more than questionable whether their su- 

 periority was as yet known to arise from their being traceable, in nearly 

 two thirds, to the blood of the Desert. At this time, it would seem to 

 have been considered desirable to stengthen the English horse, and gain 

 bone and bulk, rather than blood — not, I imagine, as Mr . Youatt sug- 

 gests in the following sentence, for agricultural, but rather for military 

 purposes ; in order to endure the ponderous burden of the mail-clad men- 

 at-arms. 



" King John, he says, 'paid great attention to the improvement of 

 horses for agricultural purposes, and to him we are indebted for the ori- 

 gin of our draught-horses. He chiefly imported Flemish horses' — one 

 hundred chosen stallions on a single occasion ; the Flanders horse being 

 — as it was even in the time of Marlborough and Prince Eugene — the 

 most approved cavalry trooper — ' and such was his anxiety to possess the 

 finest stock from these, that he would accept strong horses as rent for 

 crown-lands, and as fines for the renewal of leases. His personal stud 

 was both numerous and excellent.' One hundred years afterward, Ed- 

 ward II. purchased thirty war-horses and twelve heavy draught-horses. 



"Edward the III. devoted one thousand marks to the purchase of fifty 

 Spanish horses ; and of such importance did he conceive this addition to 

 the English, or rather mingled blood, then existing, that formal applica- 

 tion was made to the kings of France and Spain to grant safe-conduct to 

 the troop. When they had safely arrived at the royal stud, it was com- 

 puted that they had cost the monarch no less than thirteen pounds six 

 shillings and eight pence per horse, equal in value to one hundred and 

 sixty pounds of our money. This monarch had many running horses. 

 The precise meaning of the term is not, however, clear. It might be 

 light and speedy horses in opposition to the war-horses, or those that 

 were literally used for the purposes of racing." 



VI. The Horse in the Times of Henry VIII. and James I. 



Our authority follows the history of the horse in England up to the 

 rei«-n of Hemy VHI., who compelled the destruction of under-sized 



