491 HISTORY OF 



How far this may be fact, I will not take upon me to deter- 

 mine, being but little versed in a subject that does not properly 

 come within the compass of natural history. Instead therefore 

 of faither expatiating on this well-kiiowu animal's qualiiications, 



'ourteen hands and a half, was ptTmitted to run on any forest moor or com- 

 mon, where there were mares. At " Miehaelmastide " the neighbourina; 

 magistrates were ordered to " drive" all forests and commons, and not only 

 destroy such stallions, but all " unlikely tits," whether mares, or geldings, or 

 foals which they might deem not calculated to produce a valuable breed. 

 He likewise ordained, that in every deer-park, a certain number of mares 

 in proportion to its si7.e,and each at least thirteen hands high, should be kept ; 

 and that all his prelates and nobles, and "all those whose wives wore velvet 

 bonnets " should keep stallions for the saddle at least fifteen hands high. 

 These ordinances perished with the tyrant by whom they were promulgated. 



The tyrannical edicts of Henry VIII. had the effect which common sense 

 would have anticipated, — the breed of horses was not materially improved, 

 and their numbers were sadly diminished. When the bigot, Philip of Spain, 

 threatened England in the reign of Elizabeth, with his Invincible Armada, 

 that princess could muster in her whole kingdom only three thousand cavalry 

 to oppose him ; and Blundeville, who wrote at this time a very pleasant and 

 excellent book on the art of riding, speaks contemptuously of the qualities 

 of these horses. The secret of improving the breed had not then been dis- 

 covered ; it had been attempted by arbitrary power ; and it had extended 

 only to those crosses from which little good could have been expected : or 

 rather it had more reference to the actual situation of the country, and the 

 heavy carriages, and the bad roads, and the tedious travelling which then 

 prevailed, than to the wonderful change in these which a few centuries were 

 destined to effect. 



Blundeville describes the majority of our horses as consisting af strong 

 Eturdy beasts, fit only for slow draught, and the few of a lighter structure 

 being weak and without bottom. There were, however, some exceptions ; 

 for he relates a case of one of these lighter horses travelling eighty miles in a 

 day — a task which in later times has been too often and cruelly exacted from 

 our half-bred nags. 



An account has been given of the racing trial of the hirses iu Smitlifield 

 market. Regular races were now established in various parts of England. 

 Meetings of this kind were first held at Chester and Stamford ; but there 

 was no acknowledged system as now ; and no breed of racing horses. 

 Hunters and Iiackneys mingled together, and no description of horse wai 

 excluded. 



There was at first no course marked out for the race, but the contest gen. 

 erally consisted in the running of train-scent across the country, and some, 

 times the most difficult and dangerous part of the country was selected fot 

 the exhibition. Occasionally our present steeple chase was adopted with all 

 its dangers, and more than its present barbarity ; for persons were appointed 

 cruelly to flog along the jaded and exhausted horses. 



It should, however, be acknowledged that the races of that period were not 

 disgraced by the system of gambling and fraud, which seems to have become 

 almost inseparable from the amusements of the turf. The prize was use. 



