OF HORSEMANSHIP. 175 



mould, and to permit no mare, or ftallion, to breed» 

 but under thefe reftridions. 



A law was accordingly made, which directed, that 

 every brood mare Ihould be, at leaft, fourteen hands 

 high *-. 



This produced a very natural and juft efFecl, and 

 gave the kingdom many ftout and ufeful horfes, in- 

 fomuch that Carew, in his Hiftory of Cornwall, fup- 

 pofes this law to have been the occafion of lofmg al- 

 moft entirely the fmall breed of horfes, which were 

 peculiar to that country ; and it is the fame in the 

 principality of IVales, where the little breed, once fo 

 abundant, is now almoft extindt ; their fcarcity being 

 a proof what changes air, food, and a mixture of blood, 

 can produce in the animal world. The lofs, however, 



•* In a period fomewhat earlier than the commencement of this 

 prince's reign, a book was printed, probably the firfl: of its kind ever 

 feen in England, entitled, Properties and Medeycines for an Horfe, 

 ^to, printed by Wynkyn de Worde, about the year 1500. 



In Ames's Hiftory of printing, the 4 to edition, 1749, he gives a lift of 

 fome books, printed by Wynkyn de Worde, at Weftminfter, or in • 

 Caxtonh houfe ; they are without date, but he fays they were printed 

 before the year 1500. 



The above-mentioned book of medicines for horfes is certainly prior 

 in time to Fitzherbert's book on Huft^andry, which Ames fays was 

 printed in izmo, in 1548 : and in page 263, he mentions another 

 edition of it. This book has been generally thought to have been 

 written by Judge Fitzhcrbarde, but miftakenly, for the author was one 

 Fitzherbarde, an horfe-courfer. The book is extant. Vid. certain 

 ancient trads concerning the management of landed property — Re- 

 printed for Charles Bathurft, 1757. 



- J cf 



