4 A MIRROR OF THE TURF. 



was other than would be incidental to buying and 

 selling need not be argued, there being no indi- 

 cation of any set race being run for a stake of 

 money or other prize. 



Some historians of the turf, desirous of estab- 

 lishing the fact of these contests being other 

 than simple trials of speed and stamina — that they 

 were organised races, in fact — endeavour to prove 

 their case by the oft quoted description of an old 

 chronicler, Fitz Stephen, who thus describes what 

 took place : " When a race is to be run by this 

 sort of horses, and perhaps by others, which, of 

 their kind, are also strong and fleet, a shout is 

 immediately raised and the common horses are 

 ordered to withdraw out of the way. Three 

 jockeys, or sometimes only two, as the match is 

 made, prepare themselves for the contest. The 

 grand point is to prevent a competitor getting 

 before them. The horses themselves are not 

 without emulation ; they tremble, and are im- 

 patient and are continually in motion. At last the 

 signal once given, they start, devour the course, 

 and hurry along with unremitting swiftness. The 

 jockeys, inspired with the thought of applause and 

 the hope of victory, clap spurs to their willing 

 horses, brandish their whips, and cheer them with 

 their cries." 



The writer of these lines, as all readers of 

 history know, was the secretary of Archbishop 

 A'Becket, and was himself a monk of Canterbury, 

 and Drayton the poet bears testimony to the 

 accuracy of what he has stated. 



The word "jockey," as used in the above 

 extract, may denote a professional horseman ; 

 but at the time in question the word was applied 



