1 82 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



too, as for instance in / Henry IV., where we 

 come upon the sentence, "Give the roan horse 

 a drench." To bay horses he makes allusion 

 in King Lear, in Timon, and elsewhere, and 

 in Timon he refers also to a team of white 

 horses. These bare allusions make dry reading, 

 but they are instructive and of interest in 

 connection with the story of the part the horse 

 played in British history. 



More especially is this so when we again bear 

 in mind what has already been stated at length 

 in the introductory note to this book, and that is 

 the enormous extent to which automobilism has 

 increased in this country, and for that matter the 

 world over, since the introduction of the petrol 

 motor, which makes it obvious that the horse's 

 reign must be fast drawing to a close. 



That we have, as a nation, already to a great 

 extent lost much of the interest we took only a 

 few years ago in horses, and in all that appertains 

 to them, is, I think, beyond dispute. The number 

 of men who keep what must be termed "pleasure " 

 horses decreases year by year, almost month by 

 month, and indeed it would be possible to name 

 at off-hand between fifty and sixty well-known 

 men and women fond of sport who, within the last 

 six months or so, have sold their carriages and 



