Book L] THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 31 



Unhappily, the deposition of Richard II., and after- 

 wards the Wars of the Roses, effectually put a stop 

 to all rural sports in England, except at rare intervals, 

 until the accession of the House of Tudor. We have 

 seen the Land Leaguers in Ireland putting down 

 hunting and racing in that island. We can imagine 

 the impossibility of any sports in England during 

 the Civil Wars, at any rate there is no rural history 

 of that terrible period ; it is all fire, rapine, and the 

 sword. Those who had good horses were only too 

 glad to dispose of them at any price, and many a 

 noble thoroughbred was surreptitiously sent out of the 

 country. Foreign breeders made much of the oppor- 

 tunity, and secured the best strains, doubtless, on very 

 easy terms. This was a sad calamity — the results of 

 breeding for centuries being almost annihilated. Yet, 

 curiously enough, after several generations had elapsed, 

 some descendants of those English thoroughbreds 

 " worth their weight in silver," came back to England 

 in the reign of Henry VIII.* 



The House of Este — both the German and Italian 

 branches respectively, Dukes of Ferrara and Mantua 

 — was closely connected by marriage, etc., with the 

 sovereigns of England from this period to temp. 

 Queen Mary. These dukes obtained, from time to 

 time, some of the best thoroughbreds at the royal studs 

 in England, which they cultivated with the greatest 



* English thoroughbred horses were first imported to America about 

 1 50 years ago. We see their descendants, Foxhall and Iroquois, taking 

 the highest prizes on the turf, and probably the best horses of the day. 

 An analogous case is furnished in Henry VIII.'S Governatore and 

 Altobello. 



