THE ENGLISH. 23 



the contmental princes, and received from Hugh Capet of France, who 

 solicited his sister in marriage, various presents, doubtless of a nature that 

 would be thoun-ht most acceptable to him ; and among them several Ger- 

 man rinming horses. Hence our breed received another cross, and pro- 

 bably an improvement. , . . ,r . , • • ^ * 

 Athelstan seems to have seriously devoted himself to this important 

 object for he soon afterwards decreed (a. d. 930) that no horses should be 

 sent abroad for sale, or on any account, except as royal presents. This 

 proves his anxiety to preserve the breed, and likewise renders it probable 

 that that breed was beginning to be esteemed by our neighbours In a 

 document bearing date A. D. 1000 we have an interestmg account of the 

 relative value of the horse. If a horse was destroyed, or negligently los , 

 the compensation to be demanded was thirty shillings ; a mare or colt, 

 twenty shillings; a mule or young ass, twelve shiUmgs ; an ox, thirty 

 pence ; a cow, twenty-four pence ; a pig, eightpence ; and, it strangely 



follows, a man, one pound *. . ^ x^. i j i lu+i^ 



In the laws of Howell the Good, Prince of Wales, and passed a little 

 before this time, there are some curious particulars respecting the value 

 and sale of horses. The value of a foal not fourteen days old is fixed at 

 fourpence ; at one year and a day it is estimated at forty-eight pence ; and 

 at three years sixty pence. It was then to be tamed with the bridle, and 

 brought up either as a pa/fiey or a serving horse; when its value be- 

 came one hundred and twenty pence; and that of a wild or unbroken 



"" EventZtho^se'early days, the frauds of dealers were too notorious, and 

 the following singular regulations were established. The buyer was 

 allowed time to ascertain whether the horse were free from three diseases 

 He had three nights to prove him for the staggers ; three months to prove 

 the soundness of his lungs; and one year to ascertain whether he was 

 infectd with glanders. For every blemish discovered after the pu rchase, 

 one-third of the money was to be returned, except it should be a blemish 



of the ears or tail. , , 



The practice of letting horses for hire was then known, and then, as 

 now, the services of the poor hack were too brutally exacted The benevo- 

 lent Howell disdains not to legislate for the protection of this abused and 

 valuable servant. " Whoever shall borrow a horse, and rub the hair so as 

 to gall the back, shall pay fourpence ; if the skin is forced into the flesh, 

 eio-htpence ; if the flesh be forced to the bone, sixteen pence. 



One circumstance deserves to be remarked, that in none of the earliest 

 historical records of the Anglo-Saxons or the We sh, is there any allu- 

 sion to the use of the horse for the plough. Until a comparat vely re- 

 cent period, oxen alone were used in England, as in other countries for 

 thfs purpose'; but about this time (the latter part of the tenth c-tu;^^ 

 some innovation on this point was creeping in, and, therefore, a Wels^^^^^^^ 

 forbids the farmer to plough with horses, mares, or cows, b^t ^^^^ o^^^ 

 alone. On one of the pieces of tapestry woven at Bayonne "^ he time o^^ 

 WiUiam the Conqueror, (a. d. 1066) there is the figure of ^ "^.^" f^^^^^^^ 

 horse attached to a harrow. This is the earhest notice we have of the use 



of the horse in field-labour. . • +1,0 T^r^^i^^h 



With WiUiam the Conqueror came a marked improvement in the iiritisn 



* According to the Anglo-Saxon computation, forty-eight f lli^g^/^^/^^^^. J^Xen 

 equalin silver to about three pounds of our present money, in value to fifteen 01 sixteen 

 pounds, and five pence made one slulling. 



