HORSES IN SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS 183 



a)l their harness horses, and whose stables now 

 contain only hunters, while in other cases even 

 the hunters have been got rid of in order to make 

 way for automobiles. 



And yet, bemoan the change though we may, 

 the gradual transition is not uninteresting to 

 study. History in the past has for centuries 

 been both directly and indirectly affected by the 

 horses and horsemanship of the various races the 

 world over. History in the future is going to be 

 similarly affected by motor power applied in a 

 variety of ways. 



And yet, who knows ? Perhaps even half-a- 

 century hence, when the horse will to all intents 

 be extinct in England, save where he is kept for 

 racing and in some instances for hunting purposes, 

 interest may still be taken in Shakespeare's plays 

 and therefore in the stories of such whimsical 

 characters as the self-satisfied, conceited and 

 generally grotesque Sir Andrew Aguecheek and 

 his celebrated grey steed, Capilet, that we find 

 portrayed so admirably in Twelfth Night ; in 

 Lord Lafeu of All's Well that Ends Well 

 and his curious bay horse, Curtal, a name that 

 means literally ''the cropped one"; and in Cut, 

 the carrier's horse of King Henry IV., — to 

 name but a few of Shakespeare's creations that 

 surely must live on for ever. 



With regard to barb horses, of which so 

 much has been said and written, the probability 



