92 THE HORSE. 



Croydon, Tlieobald's on Epping chase, Stamford, various places 

 in Yorksliire, and, as of old, at Chester,* A regular system of 



* In Strutt's Sports and Pastimes I find the following curious and suggestive no- 

 tices of the early courses : — 



The Chester Races. — " In 1665, 5th of Charles Second," according to a Chester 

 antiquary, probably the elder Randal Holme of Chester, one of the heralds of the 

 city, " the sheriffs would have no calves' head feast, but put the charge of it into a 

 piece of plate to be run for on that day, Shrove Tuesday ; and the high sheriff bor- 

 rowed a Barbary horse of Sir Thomas Middleton, which won him the plate ; and 

 being master of the race, he would not suffer the horses of Master Massy, of Pud- 

 dington, and of Sir Philip Egerton of Sutton, to run, because they came the day 

 after the time prefixed for the horses to be brought and kept in the city, which 

 thing caused all the gentry to relinquish our races ever since." 



The Stamford Races. — " Races," continues Mr. Strutt, " something similar to 

 those above, are described by Butcher, in his survey of the town of Stamford, first 

 printed A. D. 1646, as practised in the vicinity of the town of Stamford in Lincoln- 

 shire ; ' a concourse,' says he, ' of noblemen and gentlemen meet together, in mirth, 

 peace and amity, for the exercise of their swift running horses, every Thursday in 

 March. The prize they run for is a silver and gilt cup, with a cover, to the value 

 of seven or eight pounds, provided by the care of the aldermen for the time being ; 

 but the money is raised out of the interest of a stock formerly made up by the no- 

 bility and gentry, which are neighbors and well-wishers to the town." 



These two passages indicate, the latter even prior to the commonwealth, the 

 existence of something very nearly allied to our present system of horse-racing, 

 although necessarily without its nice and minute details, the result of long expe- 

 rience, and a complete acquaintance with all the desiderata of the sport. 



Here, however, we have stated meetings, a stated course, prizes given, partly, 

 it is clear, to encourage the breed of horses, partly to attract company to the 

 town, whose corporation, like that of Doncaster, to-day, profited by the influx of 

 visitors. 



From this time the sport has continued, unchecked, except for a short period 

 during the foolish fanaticism of the Puritan usurpation — a fanaticism opposed by 

 Oliver Cromwell, who himself owned race-horses, though perhaps he never ran 

 them — until the present day, when it may be considered a national characteristic. 

 James II. and William of Orange both encouraged horse-racing as the best means 

 of improving the British horse. Anne, in whose reign the Darley Arabian and Cur- 

 wen's Barb were imported, both kept running horses herself and gave an annual 

 gold cup to be run for at York ; and the custom of giving king's plates to the value 

 of fifty or a hundred pounds, for the ostensible purpose of fostering the breed of 

 English horses, originated with her, and has been continued unto the present hour, 

 the actual sums of money being run for, in lieu of manufactured plate, at almost 

 every provincial course of any note in England. George lY. and William IV. were 

 both ardent supporters of the turf; and the latter sovereign, at one time, owned a 

 stud not easily to be surpassed in his realm, comprising the Colonel, Zinganee, and 

 Fleur de lis — three incomparable animals, which I once saw, in 1830, come in first, 

 second, and third, the rest of the field nowhere, running against one another for the 

 Goodwood cup, the sailor king refusing, in his naval mood of blunt fair play, to 

 declare^ and insisting that the best animal of the three should win. 



