THE HORSE. 263 



tion rushed upon my mind, of having seen him in his 

 loose stable at Egham in all his glory ! — In the lani 

 guage of the poet, 



" As great a fall as that of kings from thrones." 



Squirrel was one of our high formed racers, both for 

 speed and over the course ; and, I think, the shortest 

 leaped bred horse that I have ever seen. Some stal- 

 lions of that form might contribute to improve the 

 leggy race of the present day. 



I have said a few words in the earliest pages on 

 the origin of racing in this country. It may be traced 

 to the eleventh century. The following circumstance 

 occurred in the fourteenth century : in an inquisition 

 taken at Oswestry in Shropshire, on the attainder of 

 Richard, Earl of Arundel, the original of which is de- 

 posited in the Tower of London, there were found in 

 the castle of Oswestry, one young racehorse, called 

 Young Sorell, price 13/. 6s. Sd. and one white stallion, 

 price 10/. beside about fifty other horses, of various 

 kinds. The 10/. value of the white stallion, accord- 

 ing to usual computation, would be 250/. of our pre- 

 sent money. Racing, however, seems to have con- 

 sisted entirely of private matches, and not to have 

 assumed any regulated and stated form of public 

 meetings, until the reign of James the First, since 

 none of the writers, at least that I have seen, of the 

 days of Elizabeth, or even the early days of James, 

 make mention of Newmarket, or of any place where 

 public races were held. This circumstance yet ap- 

 pears inconsistent and uncertain, on the consideration, 

 that racing had been generally in vogue, during some 



