i6o HUNTING. 



Mr. Sidney, in that vast equine encyclopaedia of his,^ has 

 printed a ' table of contents ' of the stables of Algernon Percy, 

 fifth Earl of Northumberland, in 15 12, which gives one a very 

 fair notion of the sort of stud a great nobleman of those days 

 thought it necessary for his comfort and dignity to maintain : 



This is the ordre of the chequir roule of the nombre of all the 

 horsys of my lorde's and my lady's that are appointed to be in the 

 charge of the hous yerely, as to say, gentell hors, palfreys, hobys, 

 naggis, clothsell hors, male hors. 



First, gentell hors, to stand in my lorde's stable, six. 



Item. — Palfris for my ladis : to wit, oone for my lady, two for 

 her gentlewomen, and one for her chamberer. 



Four hobys and nags for my lorde's oune saddell, viz. one for 

 my lorde to ride, one led for my lorde, and one to stay at home for 

 my lorde. 



Item. — Chariot hors to stand in my lorde's stable yearly ; seven 

 great trottynge hors to draw in the chariot, and a nag for the 

 chariot man to ride — eight. Again, hors for Lord Percy, his 

 lordship's son and heir ; a great double trotting hors, called a 

 curtal, for his lordship to ride out of townes ; a proper amblynge 

 little nag., when he goethe hunting and hawking \ a great amblynge 

 gelding or trotting gelding, to carry his male. 



A single hunter, it will be seen, was then thought sufficient 

 for a ' lord of high degree,' and though distinguished from the 

 rest, as kept for hunting and hawking only, he is somewhat con- 

 temptuously dismissed as an ' amblynge little nag,' though 

 ' proper.' 



But a century later things have advanced. Then we get 

 into the days of our friend Gervase Markham, a time which, as 

 Mr. Sidney rightly says, ' may be taken as a standpoint for 

 summing up the condition of the English horse before the 

 production of the thorough-bred racehorse, which was not 

 effected till nearly a hundred years later.' In James the First's 

 reign the English horse had become a notable beast. He was 

 of foreign blood of course, as were the English men themselves, 

 of foreign blood mixed and mixed again with the native stock. 



1 The Bock of the Horse, 2nd ed. ch. ii. 



