THE BREEDS OF HOUSES. 255 



and massive proportions, for we are told that 

 when King Henry first saw the Princess Anne 

 of Cleves, a large, coarsely-formed woman, who 

 was to be his fourth spouse, he expressed his 

 opinion of her by the ejaculation: "Egad, she 

 is like a great Flanders mare!" 



It is not my purpose to follow up, step by 

 step, the several importations that were made, 

 from time to time, of these heavy horses from 

 Germany, Holland and Flanders, nor to recount 

 the various stages of development which re- 

 sulted in the formation of what is now known 

 as the Shire horse or English Cart horse. One 

 of the early Earls of Huntingdon is mentioned 

 by Prof. Low as having been especially active 

 in his efforts to improve the British breeds of 

 heavy horses; and Robert Bake well, who first 

 taught the world the great principles of good 

 stock-breeding, brought his great genius and 

 skill to bear upon the same object. He went 

 himself to Holland, where he selected several 

 mares which he brought back with him to Eng- 

 land; and by pursuing the same methods of 

 careful selection, mating and feeding by which 

 he had achieved such distinguished success with 

 other kinds of stock, he showed the English 

 people how to form a breed of draft horses 

 which has since become famous the world over. 

 Other breeders followed his example, and as 

 late as the beginning of the present century 



