380 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. 



Large grey mare to be sent to H.M. Race at Tutbury, 

 20. 0. 0." 



The price of 154 given to "Master Markham for the 

 Arabian Horse for His Majesty's own use " was therefore quite 

 exceptionally high ; and 500 guineas as a price for a Horse in 

 those days is inconceivable. 



It has been supposed by many that the * Master Markham ' 

 in question was Gervase Markham, who amongst very numerous 

 books on a great variety of subjects, wrote the well-known 

 treatise called 'Cavalarice' mentioned above (p. 377). The Duke 

 of Newcastle speaks, however, of 'John Markham, a merchant,' 

 who brought the horse over, presumably from the East, saying 

 he was a ' right Arabian,' though the Duke did not think much 

 of him, as being small, and having ' no rarity for shape.' 



As the evidence puts it beyond doubt that no Arab horse 

 had been imported into England prior to 1616, the excellent 

 English hunters (such as the chestnut for which King James I 

 gave 70 pounds) able to beat Barbarie horses and an Irish 

 Hobbie, probably derived their good blood from those Barbary 

 and Turkish horses, commonly imported into England during at 

 least the second half of the sixteenth century. 



Since, according to Blundeville, not only Barbary and Turk- 

 ish, but also Spanish, Neapolitan, and Sardinian horses were 

 known in England in 1580, we now understand how it was 

 that the supply of light-built, swift horses of the hunter class 

 had by the middle of the reign of Charles I increased so much 

 as to excite the alarm of old-fashioned cavaliers like Sir George 

 Harwood. It was the abundance of such horses that enabled 

 Cromwell to provide excellent 'mounts' for his Ironsides at 

 a cost of about 18 pounds each, though he himself was quite 

 ready to pay 60 pounds for 'a black horse,' which may have 

 been, as supposed by Sir W. Gilbey, ' a great horse.' 



But it is to the reign of Charles II that the real origin 

 of our English thoroughbred must be ascribed. Although we 

 have abundant proof of the importation of Barbary, Turk, 

 Neapolitan, and other foreign stallions, we do not hear of the 

 importation of a single mare of any of these breeds, and though 



