1659.] HJS STUD. 213 



tion, his horses, " said to be the best in England," 

 reverted to the royal stud.* 



In September, 1657, Sir Thomas Bendish, the EngHsh 

 ambassador at Constantinople, at the instance of the Levant 

 Company, was enjoined to procure some Arabian horses for 

 Ohver Cromwell. This company of adventurers likewise 

 obtained some of those animals at Aleppo for his Highness, 

 who required them *' to furnish England with of that kind." 

 In November Richard Rooth, captain of the good ship Darth- 

 mouth, arrived, from Rotterdam, at Gravesend with Nicholas 

 Baxter, " His Highness's Gentleman of Horse," who had the 

 Lord Protector's positive commands to bring the Arabian 

 horse, for which he had been sent "by water as far as he 

 conveniently could." t 



Cardinal Mazarin presented Colonel Lockhart, Cromwell's 

 ambassador at the Court of France, " with four exceeding 

 fine Arab horses for the saddle," which Lockhart pronounced 

 to be the finest he ever saw, adding that " the lord his master 

 would be mightly pleased with them." % In those days of the 

 Usurper's greatness, he maintained an almost regal establish- 

 ment, had his master of horse, huntsmen, falconers, game 

 keepers, etc.,§ and loved to look upon his " Barbary steeds." || 



About the same time, Richard Cromwell, the Protector's 

 son and successor, is described as a "person of great worth 



* " Whitehall, May 26. 



" Ordered, that the Serjeant at Arms forthwith seiz all the goods of 

 such persons as sate as Judges upon the late King, and that the seven 

 horses of Oliver Cromwell, said to be the best in Eftgland, and such 

 other horses as are seized of, belonging to such persons, be carried to the 

 Mews for the service of his Majesty.''—" The Parliamentary Intelligencer," 

 May II, 1660. 



" Mr. Place, of Dimsdale, Stud-master to Oliver Cromwell, stole the 

 Coffin Mare out of the stud, and kept her concealed in a vault, till the 

 search for her was over."— "The General Stud-Book," London, 1S03, 



P- 367- 



t State Papers, Dom., Interreg., 1657-8, pp. 96, 97, 453. 



X Thurloe, State Papers, vol. v., p. 655. 



§ Forster, vol. v., p. 430. || Il>id., p. 354. 



