252 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



supper, and never speak a word but of dogs, 

 cocks and horses again. 



" Then to the Groom Porters, where you may 

 play all night. Oh, 'tis a heavenly life ! We 

 are never, never tired ! " 



Seeing what keen and thorough sportsmen the 

 Irish are, as a body, one is rather surprised to 

 learn that until towards the close of the seven- 

 teenth century horse racing was almost unknown 

 in Ireland. No sooner had it been introduced, 

 however, than it began to develop with great 

 rapidity, so that within a few years it spread into 

 many parts of the island and we hear of race 

 meeting after race meeting being organised. 



For horse racing seemed to suit the tempera- 

 ment of the Irish people as no other form of 

 sport had done. From the first the Irish 

 must have devoted much time and attention to 

 race horse breeding, and though their facilities 

 for obtaining the services of the best stallions 

 were fewer than the facilities afforded to the 

 English breeders, they yet succeeded in rearing 

 a number of useful animals, while plenty of 

 their race meetings soon compared favourably 

 with some of the best meetings that were held in 

 England at about the same period. 



But few particulars are extant of the races in 

 which King Charles himself rode, though several 

 of the earlier writers inform us that he "carried 

 all before him." In a despatch from Sir Robert 



