200 THE HISTORY OF NEWMARKET. [Book X. 



The intimate associations between the Fenwicks and 

 Newmarket gave rise to the following nursery rhyme in the 

 north of England : 



" Fenwick of Bywell's away to Newmarket ; 

 Away to Newmarket, away to Newmarket. 

 Fenwick of Bywell's away to Newmarket, 

 And he'll be there before we get started." 



Denham's " North of England Folk-Lore," pp. 12-18. 



Marshal de Bassompierre, in his memoirs of his 



embassy to England in 1626, occasionally refers to the 



superiority of the EnHish horses, and 



Charles I. ^ -^ , . 



1626. records having received some of them in pre- 



o^/Engiish^ sents, gifts, etc., from the king and the high 



horses on the officers of State during his sojourn. About 



Continent. , , , . 



the same time he mentions that Enehsh 

 thoroughbreds were first introduced into France. 

 " The court," says he, " being at Fontainebleau, it was 

 the practice to play for large and serious sums ; and 

 the circulation being extremely brisk, the courtiers 

 called the counters, which represented money, Qiiin- 

 terots, because they pass and repassed from one 

 player to another, with as much celerity and rapidity as 

 ike English horses wej^e known to run : they were called 

 Quinterots, from the name of the person who had 

 brought them into France the year before." He 

 further observes, " that English horses were so much 

 admired for their speed, that they have since that time, 

 been always employed in hunting, and on the road ; a 

 practice till then unknown." Bassompierre had been 

 in England in Elizabeth's reign, and could speak 

 authoritatively on the subject. He was a heavy 

 gambler, and is said to have won at play, " though dis- 



