1623.] SIR GEORGE RERESBY'S STUD. 311 



ones as thaye are worthie to lye on Steenie and Kates 

 bedde ; and all of thaime rume together in a lumpe both 

 at sente and uewe [view], and God thanke the maister of 

 the horse, for provyding me such a number of faire useful! 

 horses, fitte for my hande ; in a worde I proteste I was never 

 maister of suche horses and howndes ; the bearer will tell you 

 quhat fyne running we hadd yesterdaye. Remember now to 

 take the aire discreitlie and peece and peece, and for Gods 

 saike and myne, keepe thyselfe verrie warme, especiallie thy 

 heade and thy showlders, putte thy of Bewlie to an ende, and 

 love me still and still, and so God blesse thee and my sweete 

 daughter and god-daugher, to the comforte of thy deare dade. 



"James R. 

 " [P.S.] Thy old purvayoure sent thee yesternight six 

 partridges and two levrettis, I am now gowing to hawke the 

 pheasant." — Harleian MS., 6987, fol. loi, p. 184. 



A curious list of necessaries pertaining to the royal stables, 

 classified under the head of coursers, geldings, hunters, coach- 

 horses, bottle-horses, etc., will be found among the manuscripts 

 in the British Museum (Add. 5750, fo. 150). 



It is evident that horse-breeding was conducted systemati- 

 cally in England at this time. In a rare work for the " Order 

 and Government of a Noblemans House," as observed in 

 1605, the " Officer of the Gentleman of the Horse " is enjoined 

 " to keep a note in a booke when everie mare is coverede and 

 with what horse, and that they bee carefullie looked into 

 before they foale and after" (" Archaeol.," vol. xiii.). 



Sir George Reresby kept a considerable stud at Ickles, 

 in Yorkshire, about this period. His descendant. Sir John 

 Reresby, in his Memoirs, records that " his diversion was 

 sometimes hawks, but his chiefest was his breed of horses, 

 in which he was very exact ; but his breed was not of that 

 reputation to get any profit thereby, and the keeping of 

 much ground in his hands both at Thrybergh and Ickles, 

 for the running of his horses, which he might have let at 

 good rates, made it the more expensive," * When Sir John 



• " The Memoirs of Sir John Reresby," by J. J. Cartwright, M.A., p. 10. 



