526 THE HORSE. 



Horse to make purchases for his stud. Two Barbs which 

 he imported are familiarly known as the Royal Mares, and 

 stand the first in rank amongst the parents of the turf-horses 

 in England. He continued all his life to take extraordi- 

 nary delight in this amusement. The place where he used to 

 sit at Newmarket, surrounded by his joyous Court, can yet 

 be pointed out as the King's Chair. James II. partook 

 of the same feeling, and attempted to pursue the same 

 pleasures during his brief and agitated reign. King Wil- 

 liam did not disdain this sport of the nation, and paid great 

 attention to the improvement of the Royal Stud. Queen 

 Anne had a decided taste for the same pursuits, and kept a 

 considerable number of race-horses. Amongst those which 

 we read of in the racing annals of the time, are the now well- 

 known names of Pepper and Mustard, which seem to have 

 been the most successful. The two first Sovereigns of the 

 House of Hanover gave way to the public feeling. George III. 

 was a judicious patron of the Turf: and George IV., long 

 the gay leader of elegance and fashion, was strongly devoted 

 to this class of spectacles. 



The lighter horses for speed, introduced previous to the 

 reign of James I., were Spaniards, Barbs, and Turks. But 

 King James, on his accession to the English Crown, resolved 

 to try the Arabian, with which his reading had probably 

 rendered him familiar. He purchased a horse of that race, 

 imported from the East by an English merchant, Mr Mark- 

 ham, for which he paid the sum, great in those days, of 

 L.500. This horse, however, in no way distinguished on the 

 turf or for his stock, attracted little attention. The Duke of 

 Newcastle, who afterwards wrote a remarkable work on 

 Horses, took an especial dislike to this Arabian, abused him 

 as a bony creature, good for nothing, because, being trained 

 to the course, he could not run. This opinion seems to have 

 exercised a great influence on the breeders for the turf; and 

 it was not until after the lapse of more than a hundred years 

 that the neglected Arabian was again resorted to. During 



