THE THOROUGHBRED 65 



of saddlers. In the year 1540 a silver bell was substi- 

 tuted for the former prize, under the title of "St. 

 George's Bell." Hence the common phrase to "bear 

 the bell," as equivalent to being the victor. 



King James I. purchased Markham's Arabian horse 

 at the price of five hundred pounds. Race meetings 

 were now regularly held at various places in the 

 kingdom, and a well-ordered system of training the 

 horses, and of running according to weight, age and 

 distance was introduced. Pedigrees were kept, the 

 best and stoutest horses and mares were reserved for 

 breeding, and their progeny were for the most part 

 set aside for racing purposes. Misson, who traveled 

 in England about the year 1641, writes: "The English 

 nobility take great delight in horse races. The most 

 famous are usually at Newmarket, and there you are 

 sure to see a great many persons of the first quality, 

 and almost all the gentlemen of the neighborhood. It 

 is pretty common for them to lay wagers of two thou- 

 sand pounds sterling upon one race." 



Though for nearly a century the best horsemen of 

 England and America have held the thoroughbred 

 horse to be no longer susceptible of improvement by 

 a further infusion of Oriental blood, it must be borne 

 in mind that there is very little of his blood that is 

 not of the Arabian, Barb or Turk. In the year 1730 

 it is known that the following named foreign horses 

 of note were in the stud in England: The Alcock 

 Arabian, the Godolphin Arabian, the Bloody But- 

 tocks Arabian, Hall's Arabian, the Bloody Shoul- 

 dered Arabian, Johnson's Turk, the Belgrade Turk, 



