Italian Horses. 



47 



from Forbes' s Journal, 1688, where it is stated that "Sir James Dalrymple, being seventy years old, 

 accompanied the Prince of Orange on his expedition to England in 1688. On landing at Torbay 

 William sent to inquire concerning Sir James's health, and perceiving that horses were not come 

 up for him ordered a Neapolitan horse belonging to himself to be assigned for his use." 



A portrait of William III. by Gaspard Netscher, in the possession of the Earl of Radnor, 

 represents him on a coarsely-bred chestnut horse with white legs, evidently a portrait. 



During the period between 161S and 1688 no doubt a constant importation of Eastern 

 horses was taking place, which, crossed with the best native mares, and selected by racing 

 men and hunting men for speed and stoutness, gradually and almost insensibly produced the 

 English blood-horse, whose superiority to all other breeds of horses was incontestably proved 

 early in the eighteenth century. 



It is noteworthy that in a book* on the treatment of the Horse, published in Rome with 

 permission of the Pope in 1689, from which the illustration on page 46 is copied, no reference 

 is made to English horses. The author claims that the native horses have been brought to 

 perfection, have derived their pleasant temperament, from the influence of the air, robust con- 

 stitutions from the nature of the country, beauty of form from the crossing of various breeds, 

 and fine paces from the training of their excellent riders. Rome, the kingdom of Naples, and 

 Tuscany, stand first for good breeds of horses. 



ITALIAN HORSES. 



The high reputation which the Italian breed enjoyed as war-horses in the sixteenth 

 century has been traced with great industry by a student of Italian literature, who has allowed 

 me to condense in a few paragraphs the result of his labours. \ 



In Italy for a thousand years every warlike invader had brought his horses. 



" The shape of the Roman horse is well known — a strong brute without much quality ; but 

 in A.D. 568 the Lombards invaded Italy, and Alborino their king brought with him out of Pannonia 

 a breed of horses which was evidently highly esteemed, for Paolo Diaconi (Paul the Deacon), a 

 Lombard whose great-grandfather came into Italy with Alborino, relates that when Alborino created 

 his nephew Gisulfo Duke of Friuli and that part of Italy which has since formed a portion of 

 the Venetian States, the latter made it one of the conditions on which he would accept the duchy 

 that when his uncle advanced farther into Italy he would leave some of the Pannonian horses. 



Twenty thousand Saxons, we learn from the same author, joined Alborino in his invasion. 

 Their northern horses no doubt brought another cross to the native race. 



In the eighth century the Lombards, firmly seated in Italy, sent an army to assist the PVench 

 to repel the Saracen invasion. This having been done successfully, no doubt the Lombard 

 allies brought back some of the Oriental horses of the defeated Moslems as part of their spoil. 



During four centuries the Crusaders and pilgrims from every part of Europe passed through 

 the Venetian States on their way to the Holy Land. As all travelling was performed on horse- 

 back, they must have left many horses to swell and cross the equine breeds of those States. 



Thus for nearly a thousand years there was a constant influx to the neighbourhood of 

 Mantua of the best breeds of horses of Asia, Africa, and Europe. The result was the production 

 of the Mantuan horses, which became famous as war-horses'in the sixteenth century. 



They were considered the destriers fit for kings. Bernard Tasso, writing A.D. 1525, from 



* "La Perfettione del Cav.iUo di Francesco Liberati Romano. AU'illustries el Eccellentiss. Principe il Signer D. Gio. 

 Battista Borghese, Principe di Sulmona. In Roma, per Michele Ilercole, 1669. Con Licenza de Sup." 

 t Ralph N. James, Esq., F.R.ILS. 



