236 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



Of these stages the first was started probably 

 about the year 1670, and its weight when empty 

 must have been enormous, every part being made 

 of solid timber bound with strips of iron. The 

 " speed" at which it travelled so far as one can 

 gather from the early descriptive records of the 

 progress of the pioneer stage must have been 

 approximately three or four miles an hour, upon 

 an average, or even less. 



An excellent reproduction of the early type of 

 the English great horse is to be seen in Dublin 

 in the famous statue of William III. on horse- 

 back. The type of horse shown is probably the 

 exact type that was popular not merely in William 

 III.'s reign, but during the greater part of the 

 century before he ascended the throne. 



True, in that statue the king is garbed like an 

 ancient Roman, the reason being I take the 

 following statement from several Irish jarveys, 

 and disclaim all responsibility for its alleged 

 accuracy that King William adored a foreigner 

 and tried always to look like one! It was, 

 indeed, a jarvey who remarked as we drove 

 past : " Sure, and it is in hunting kit he should 

 be, and on one of Pat Mecreedy's hundred-guinea 

 leppers." He appeared to be convulsed with 

 mirth at the bare thought that the hero of the 

 Boyne should have been depicted mounted upon 

 a cart horse. 



Some even among our historians, however, 



