INTRODUCTION. 



Pictorial records possess a value which in some depart- 

 ments of history is even greater than that of the written 

 word. The most minutely detailed description of the 

 writer conveys less to us than the brush of the artist, and 

 there are matters which only the painter can save from 

 oblivion. Social history would be incomplete without 

 its artistic exponents ; and the history of British field- 

 sports perhaps owes more than that of other institutions 

 to the painter. More especially is this the case in relation 

 to the Turf, the Hunting-field and the Road. The details 

 which by reason of their absolute familiarity or con- 

 temporary insignificance escape the chronicler are per- 

 petuated by the artist. 



We learn more concerning the dress and equipment 

 of our forefathers on the race-course, in the hunting- 

 field, on the coach-box, in covert and by the river-side 

 from a glance at an old painting than we can glean 

 from perusal of many volumes. More than this, old 

 portraits of thoroughbreds, hunters, hacks, coach-horses, 

 heavy draught-horses, and domestic cattle, serve a use- 

 ful purpose which is apt to be overlooked. These 

 pictures viewed in chronological order show us the various 

 stages through which the four-footed servants of man 

 have passed ere they attained their present states of 

 development ; and they may be of service in indicating 

 how breeders should proceed in order to eliminate defects 



