76 THE HISTORY OF NEWMARKET. [Book II. 



Ambassador in England, in a despatch to the Signory, 

 describes the Mayday gaieties of the Court in 1 5 1 5 ; 

 and records that he saw the king on a bay horse, 

 which had been sent to him as a present by the 

 marquis, upon which his Majesty performed such feats 

 that he fancied himself looking at Mars ! 



Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua,* then in 

 his forty-ninth year, was renowned for his stud of 

 horses, of which the preceding and the following 

 drafts are mentioned as being received in this country 

 by the king. In 15 17, and most likely in the interval, 

 further additions from Mantua's stud arrived in Eng- 

 land for the King and the Duke of Suffolk, the recipro- 

 cation being usually English hounds and hobbies.f 



Amongf other strains of Eastern blood in Eno^land at 

 this time, we find a stallion given to the king by the 

 late Duke of Urbino,J at the paddock at Hampton 

 Court, whose services were appropriated by Cardinal 

 Wolsey. His Eminence was a famous horseman, and 

 was always energetic in improving the breed of horses 

 in this country. In 1515, Ferdinand of Arragon, King 

 of Spain, sent Henry two "excellent horses," and in 



* In March, 1530, the Emperor Charles V. paid a visit to Gonzaga's 

 stud, when he raised the Margravate of Mantua to a Duchy. During this 

 visit the Emperor's master of the horse, Count de Montford, suddenly 

 died there. 



t Francesco Chieregato to Mantua. Lond., May 28, 15 17. 



X One day the king mounted Ratto on this horse, to see how he would 

 manage him. He put the horse through his paces, to the astonishment 

 of the king, who said he thought Ratto must have ridden the horse 

 before. The king then asked him whether, without displeasing the 

 Marquis of Mantua, he could enter his service, promising good pay. He 

 replied that he would never wrong the marquis, whose servant he was, 

 and that he would never act thus were he in the service of his Majesty, 

 whom he preferred serving at Mantua rather than in "England. 



