2-^6 The Book of the Horse. 



of very fine horses, both cob-Hke and blood-like, were ridden into the city. In the last century 

 a lively competition in fast trotting hacks existed amongst the younger representatives of 

 banking and brewing firms ; but at the present time the horsemen of financial position who 

 pass farther than Westminster Bridge may be counted on the fingers of one hand, although 

 the embankment affords a tempting ride, free from stones, through both parks to Blackfriars 

 Bridge ; and this route has recently been adopted by equestrians of the Temple and Printing 

 House Square, who previously tempted Providence in the crowded ways and slippery roads 

 of Fleet Street and the Strand. 



The tall men to whom personal appearance is a matter of importance require tall park 

 horses, which are, in fact, of the same stamp as those " first chargers " which the commanding 

 oflficer of a crack cavalry regiment expects his officers to reserve sacredly for parade and review 

 purposes, at any rate not to use as so many chargers are used, for hunting and for harness. 



ROTTEN ROW. 



Rotten Row in Hyde Park has long been exclusively devoted to the use of horsemen 

 and horsewomen, and still continues to be the part of the Park where the finest specimens of 

 Park hacks are to be seen, although in recent improvements soft rides round nearly the whole 

 of the Park have been constructed for the benefit of equestrians. The " Ring" so often referred to 

 by several writers in the time of Queen Anne had disappeared before my time. It was 

 marked by trees behind the corner where the statue of Achilles stands. The Ladies' Mile 

 exists still on the north side of the Serpentine, but is no longer "the Mile," as it was even 

 twenty years ago when ladies there only displayed the finest equipages. Amidst every improve- 

 ment of Hyde Park, and they are many, " the Row " retains its favour for early morning, 

 mid-day (a comparatively modern fashion), and afternoon rides. Royalty only is permitted 

 to traverse Rotten Row on wheels. 



George IV. rode on horseback a great deal in his younger days, talked of riding, and 

 bought horses and boots, and wore breeches, a few years before his death, when his height and 

 health made such exercise seem impossible to every one but himself. He was an excellent 

 judge of every kind of horse, and kept, after he came to the throne, such a stud as has never 

 been collected since in our royal stables. The king had a preference for grey hollow-back 

 horses which partly concealed the size of his limbs. 



A scarce mezzotint represents him in his teens, in a hussar uniform, sitting on his horse — 

 an impossible, prancing, Flemish horse — with the long stirrup and straight leg of the Prussian 

 school of the last century. It is related in the life of Sir Fowell Bu.xton, the slave emanci- 

 pator, that the king was particularly struck by a very powerful blood-horse ridden by the 

 baronet, which, in the midst of a mob howling and hissing as the king passed in his carriage, 

 stood, like some fine statue, with head erect, ears pricked, and nostrils breathing hard with 

 excitement, perfectly still. The reply of Sir Fowell to a request — king's requests are generally 

 considered commands — to "name his price" was, "John Bull is not for sale." This was not 

 the only refusal the king sustained in the matter of horses. Matt Milton, a celebrated dealer, 

 went to Edinburgh to purchase for His Majesty a celebrated trotting hack belonging to the 

 Duke of Hamilton (known as " The Proud Duke "). Milton began by offering a thousand 

 rruineas for the trotter. The reply was " Tell the man I can afford a thousand-guinea horse 

 as well as the king can." 



Until the death of William IV., one of the most familiar and remarkable equestrian figures 



