43 



represented, has all the Great Horse charac- 

 ter. Stress must be laid on the fact that 

 from about this period the term Black Horse 

 is used as synonymous with Great Horse. 

 The following brief note from Cromwell 

 to Auditor Squire, which we take from 

 Carlyle's Letters and Speeches of Oliver 

 Cromwell, has value in this connection, as 

 also in showing the cost of troop horses at 

 the time : 



'' Stilton, Jan. 31, 1043. 

 " Dear Sir, — 



'* Buy those horses, but do not give more than 

 18 or 20 pieces each for them, that is enough for 

 Dragooners. I will give you 60 pieces for that Black 

 you won [in battle] at Horncastle, for my son has a 

 mind to him. 



" Your friend, 



"Oliver Cromwell." 



It is altogether improbable that the "dra- 

 gooners " referred to were animals boasting 

 the power and substance of the charger o\\ 

 which Vandyke has painted the Protector. 

 Cromwell's "Ironsides" were not clad in 

 plate armour but in leathern jerkins, and 

 for men so accoutred a much lighter stamp 

 of horse would suffice. 



In another letter written six months after, 

 appears the following phrase : — " I will gi\ e 

 you all that you ask for that black you wnn 



