246 THE HISTORY OF NEWMARKET, [Book XL 



teenth and eighteenth centuries. The race horses belonging 

 to the O'Briens in a great measure owed their fame to the 

 drafts, sent by order of Parliament to General Jones to 

 Ireland, from the ex-royal stud at Tutbury in the year 1649 ; 

 those animals having been subsequently acquired by the 

 Earl of Thomond who carefully preserved them and kept the 

 breed pure during many generations. 



^'^^ Sir John Cotton, Bart. — eldest sonand successor of 

 Sir Thomas Cotton, Bart., M.P. for the county of Huntingdon, 

 and his first wife, Margaret, daughter of William, Lord 

 Howard, of Naworth — succeeded his father, May 13, 1662. 

 He was M.P. for the borough of Huntingdon in the reign of 

 Charles H., and for the county in the time of James H. He 

 married, ist, Dorothy, daughter and heiress of Edmund Ander- 

 son, of Stratton and Eyworth, in the county of Bedford, by 

 whom he had a son and a daughter ; and, 2ndly, Elizabeth, 

 daughter of Sir Thomas Honywood, Knight, of Marks Hall, 

 Essex. By this lady he had several children, but only three 

 to survive, viz. Robert, who succeeded as 5th baronet, Eliza- 

 beth, and Mary. 



The following is a copy of the original articles for 



the twelve-stone plate instituted by the king in 1665, 



to be run for over the new round course at 



Charles II. 



1665. Newmarket on the second Thursday in 



Newmarket. /^ . 1 n c " . 



October, " lor ever : — 



"Articles ordered by his Majestic to be observed by 

 all persons that put in horses to run for the Plate, 

 the new Round-heate at Newmarkett, set out the 

 1 6th day of October, in the 17"' yeare of our 

 Soveraign Lord King Charles H. Which Plate is 

 to be rid for yearly, the seconde Thursday in 

 October, for euer : 

 "IlUprim'S — That euery horse, mare, or gelding that rideth 

 for this prize shalbe led out between eleven and twelve 



