184 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



would seem to be that " barbed " is in reality 

 a corrupt form of the word "barded" that 

 came originally from the French, bardd that is 

 to say, caparisoned and therefore it may signify 

 indirectly a horse in armour. Hence the mean- 

 ing probably intended by Shakespeare to be 

 conveyed in the following lines in King Richard 

 III. : 



" And now instead of mounting barbed steeds, 

 To fright the souls of fearful adversaries, 

 He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber, 

 To the lascivious pleasing of a lute." 



Shakespeare and Bishop Hall, in addition to 

 one or two other writers, speak of the horse, 

 Marocco, which lived in Elizabeth's reign, and 

 belonged to a man named Banks, or Bankes, a 

 brother of the first keeper of the New Warren. 



Foaled, so far as one can gather, at New- 

 market, Marocco appears to have been one of the 

 cleverest of the few horses that at that period 

 had been trained to perform at fairs, and in shows 

 and circuses. 



Some of the feats performed by it are described 

 at length in the old records, and though we read 

 that in those days such feats were deemed 

 "marvellous past belief," we should smile if 

 anybody were to-day to express amazement at 

 seeing a circus horse perform tricks so simple. 



That Marocco should be able to walk upright 

 upon his hind legs, for instance, was considered 



