208 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



These the archduke begged King James to 

 accept as a small mark of the esteem in which 

 the king was held by himself and his country- 

 men. 



In the historical records of almost the whole of 

 James I.'s reign we find reference made repeatedly 

 to race horses, also to the sport of hunting. An 

 important fixture, as we should call it to-day, 

 apparently was the Chester Meeting. It took 

 place on St George's Day, and the chief race 

 was known as " The St George's Cup." The 

 riders carried ten stone, and the entrance stake 

 was half-a-crown. 



A quaint rule in connection with this race was 

 that the winning owner had to contribute to a fund 

 for the benefit of the prisoners confined in the 

 North Gate jail "the sum of six shillings and 

 eightpence or three shillings and fourpence, on 

 certain conditions." 



In addition to the cup, silver bells were run for 

 at this meeting, and it is interesting to learn that 

 before removing their prizes the cup winner and 

 the bell winners were compelled to deposit "ade- 

 quate security " presumably with the race com- 

 mittee for these trophies. For all the principal 

 trophies had to be run for again at the following 

 meeting, and we are told quite seriously that it 

 was feared that if the temporary owners were 

 allowed to remove these prizes without leaving 

 any security they might have been disposed to 



