150 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



not thus effectually put a stop to the practice at 

 the outset. 



Yet we are told that in spite of this the king's 

 act greatly annoyed several of the more powerful 

 of his nobles, even that in some of the provinces 

 it led almost to open rebellion, many men of 

 private means having been in the habit of con- 

 siderably augmenting their fortunes by secretly 

 exporting horses upon what was in those days 

 deemed to be rather a large scale. 



So strong, indeed, did the feeling throughout 

 the country gradually grow, that in a short time 

 it was decided to present the king with " a 

 request" presumably what we should to-day 

 term a petition in the hope that he might there- 

 by be induced to revoke his rather arbitrary 

 order. 



Whether the request ever was presented does 

 not appear, but certainly Henry did not revoke 

 the order. 



On the contrary, soon after prohibiting the 

 exportation of horses beyond the seas he issued 

 a supplementary edict which in effect rendered 

 the exportation of horses to any foreign port, 

 with the exception of Calais, a very grave offence ; 

 while the " exportation" of horses into Scotland, 

 and even the bare act of selling to any Scotsman 

 any horse without having first obtained the king's 

 permission to do so, became an act of felony alike 

 to vendor and purchaser. 



