THE MARKHAM ARABIAN. 91 



during the Tudor reigns, to the supporting bodies of armed 

 retainers bj the great nobles ; and might rather point to the 

 consequences of the decline of feudal militia, and the absence 

 as yet of a regular cavalry force, than to the decay to so enor- 

 mous an extent in so short a time of the equestrian resources 

 of England, the people of which in their habits continued, 

 both high and low, and still to this day continue, to be singu- 

 larly equestrian, using the saddle infinitely more, and light 

 vehicles immeasm-ably less, than the corresponding classes of 

 the United States. 



With the accession of James I. to the throne of England, a 

 monarch, of whom it is well that one, by any scrutiny, may 

 discover and declare one creditable feature, a great improve- 

 ment was systematically wrought in the English breed, and 

 from this period breeding was constantly and progressively 

 attended to. James purchased Markham's Arabian horse at 

 the then extraordinary price of £500, but he was found to be 

 deficient in speed; and the Duke of K"ewcastle, who then 

 managed the king's racing and hunting studs, having, it is said, 

 on this account taken a dislike to the horse, his breed does not 

 seem to have been tested, and for a time Arabians fell into dis- 

 repute. 



Kace meetings were now regularly held at Newmarket, 



that horses were valued in accordance to their pedigree, as apart from, or perhaps 

 above, their performances ; and that to a degree which seemed absurd and idle to 

 persons ignorant of the extent to which hereditary qualities are transmitted in the 

 blood of horses, and which Bishop Hall considered so worthy of ridicule, as to hold 

 it up to derision as a fallacy, in one of his satires : — 



" Dost thou prize 

 Thy bmte beast's worth by their dam's qualities ? 

 Say'st thou this colt shall prove a swift -paced steed ? 

 Only because a Jennet did him breed? 

 Or say'st thou this same horse shall win the prize, 

 Because his dam was swiftest Truncheflce, 

 Or Euncevall his sire ; himself a galloway, 

 While like a tireling jade he lags half way ? " 



The error of the worthy prelate, who is not expected to be a capital Turfman, 

 in under-estimating blood, surely proves that in his day it was not generally under- 

 estimated in England ; and it farther indicates the common and usual occurrence 

 of running for prizes. In conjunction with what has been before shown, I think it 

 goes far to prove that the alleged deterioration of the English horse, under Elizabeth, 

 is imaginary ; and that the improvement of the animal in England has been pro- 

 gressive from the first. 



