HISTOEY OF THE ENGLISH HORSE. 55 



use the saddle. He says, tliat ' tlie bisliops and others rode on horseback, 

 v\dio until then wei'e wont to go on foot ; and that even then it was only on 

 urgent occasions that they thus rode. They used mares only, as a mark of 

 humility, the mare generally not being so handsome or so much valued as 

 the horse.' 



About 920 years after the first landing of Caesar, we find the various 

 British kingdoms united, and Alfred on the throne. Nothing that con- 

 cerned the welfare of his kingdom was neglected by this pati'iotic monarch, 

 and some of the chronicles relate the attention which he paid to the breed- 

 ing and improvement of the horse. An officer was appointed for this 

 especial purpose, who was entitled the Hors-Than or Horse-Thano, or, as 

 jhe historian renders it, Eqtioruni Magister, Master of the Horse. In 

 every succeeding reign, this officer was always near the royal person, 

 especially on every state occasion. 



Athelstan, the natural son of Alfred, having subdued the rebellious por- 

 tions of the Heptarchy, was congratulated on his success by some of the 

 Continental princes, and received from Hugh Capet of France, who 

 solicited his sister in marriage, several German running horses. Hence 

 our breed received another cross, and probably an improvement. "We are 

 not, however, certain of the precise breed of these horses, or how far they 

 resembled the beautiful state horses, whether black or cream-coloured, 

 which we obtain from Germany at the present day. Athelstan seems to 

 have placed peculiar value on these horses or their descendants, or the 

 i^esult of their intercourse with the native breed ; for he soon afterwards 

 (a.d. 930) decreed, that no horses should be sent abroad for sale, or on any 

 account, except as royal presents. This proves his anxiety to preserve 

 the breed, and likewise renders it probable that that breed was beginning 

 to be esteemed by our neighbours. 



It is not unlikely that, even at this early period, the beautiful effect of 

 the English soil and climate, and care in. the improvement of the horse, 

 began to be evident. This will be a subject for pleasing inquiry by and 

 by : but the experience of every age has proved that there are few 

 countries in which the native breed has been rendered so much more 

 valuable by the importation of a foreign stock, and every good quality of 

 a foreigTi race so certainly retained, as in England. 



In a document bearing date A.D. 1000, we have an interesting account 

 of the relative value of the horse. If a horse was destroyed, or neghgently 

 lost, the compensation to be demanded was thirty shillings ; for a mare or 

 colt, twenty shillmgs ; a mule or young ass, twelve shillings ; an ox, thirty 

 pence ; a cow, twenty-four pence ; a pig, eight pence ; and, it strangely 

 follows, a man, one pound. According to the Anglo-Saxon computation, 

 forty-eight shillings made a pound, equal in silver .to about three pounds 

 of o^^r pressent money. Five pence made one shilling : the actual value 

 of these coins, however, strangely varied in different times and circum- 

 stances. 



In the laws of Howell Dha, Howell the Good, Prince of Wales, enacted 

 a little before this time, there are some curious particulars respecting the 

 value and sale of horses. The value of a foal not fourteen days old is fixed 

 at four pence ; at one year and a day it is estimated at forty-eight pence ; 

 and at three years, sixty pence. It was then to be tamed with the bridle, 

 and brought up either as a palfrey or a serving horse, when its value became 

 one hundi'ed and twenty pencfr. That of a wild or unbroken mare was 

 sixty pence. 



Even in those early days, the frauds of dealers were too notorious, and 

 the following singular regulations were estabHshed. The buyer was allowed 

 time to ascertain whether the horse was free from three diseases. He had 



