CHAPTER V 



King Henry VIII. and Queen Elizabeth passionately fond of 

 hunting — John Selwyn's remarkable feat in the hunting field ; the 

 monument at Walton-on-Thames — Don Quixote and his steed, 

 Rosinante ; Peter of Provence's wooden horse, Babieca ; Clavileno 

 and the Cid's horse — Mary Queen of Scots' favourite horses — 

 Queen Elizabeth's retinue of 2400 horses — Arundel, Aquiline, 

 Brigadore — The horses of Anatolia and Syria — Sir Robert Carey's 

 historic ride from London to Edinburgh in sixty hours — The 

 horses of Napoleon I. 



CO far as hunting was concerned, Henry VIII. 

 ^ was, as we know, a keen sportsman, and Queen 

 Elizabeth would appear to have been almost an 

 equally enthusiastic sportsman. Passionately 

 devoted to the chase, nothing gave her greater 

 pleasure than to see " the quarry broken up before 

 her." Statements to this effect are to be found 

 in the works of three trustworthy writers at least, 

 so we may take it that the records are approxi- 

 mately accurate. The queen "loved to be on 

 horseback for its own sake," and was fond of 

 open air at all times. 



It is in connection with Elizabeth's partiality 

 for the chase that the story is told of a man named 

 John Selwyn, for many years under keeper of 

 the park at Oaklands, in Surrey, where some of 

 the queen's hunters were usually stabled during 

 the autumn and winter. 

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