82 THE HOKSE. 



It is stated by Mr. Youatt, although, singularly enough, he 

 maintains that the crusaders did not introduce eastern horses, 

 that Eichard I. did import two from Cyprus, which he ob- 

 serves "j9/y/>«Z'///," he might have said certainly^ " were of 

 eastern origin." The statement is made on the faith of an old 

 metrical Romance, wliich is that entitled by the name of the 

 monarch whose feats it celebrated, usually supposed to be of 

 the time of Edward I., and contained in Ellis's Metrical Ro- 

 mances. The lines are curious, as they indicate a full acquaint- 

 ance with various animals, natives of the East, and more par- 

 ticularly with the especial qualities of the oriental horse, his 

 speed and surefootedness. 



These horses were named Favell and Lyard — 



" In the world was not their peer, 

 Dromedary, not destrere, 

 Steed 'rabyte, ne caraayl, 

 That ran so swift sans fail, 

 For a thousand pounds of gold. 

 Should not that one be sold." 



Destrere, it must be observed, is the old spelling of the word 

 Destrier^ in Norman French, derived from the barbarous. Mid- 

 dle Age Latin, Dextrarius signifying a war-horse. Edward I. 

 also is known to have inti-oduced horses from the East ; and 

 that accurate and inquiring antiquary, Sir Walter Scott, de- 

 scribes his spirit, or the demon of the haunted camp under his 

 form, in the noctural tourney with Alexander of Scotland, as 

 being recognized by the horse he bestrode. 



" Alike his Syrian courser's frame, 

 The rider's length of limb the same." 



It is notorious, moreover, and was one of the charges against 

 the Templars, at the period of their downfall, that, being vowed 

 to frugality and poverty, as was indicated by their original em- 

 blem of two Knights mounted on one charger, they had ex- 

 pended vast sums in luxurious appliances, of no real utility, as 

 Eastern horses, dogs and birds, for the chase and falconry, and 

 other vain and worldly pleasures. 



From this I gather, not by any means that the crusaders 

 neglected or failed to perceive the peculiar excellencies of the 



