45 



years and, though the dear decade 1643-1652 does not 

 represent the highest average of the whole, the ex- 

 altation over the thirty years that precede it is very 

 marked. For the period 1673- 1682 horses are de- 

 cidedly dear. Thus in 1673 a horse is bought by 

 All Souls College at ^30 5s., and two others at 

 Cambridge at £10 each. In 1674 Winchester gives 

 £1^ 8s. 6d. for a saddle horse." 



Cromwell's letter was written at the be- 

 ginning of the "dear decade;" and as the 

 prices quoted for individual purchases thirty 

 years later appear "decidedly dear" in a 

 general review of the period, it is highly 

 probable that ^[8 or ^20 was the amount 

 Cromwell thought " quite enough for dra- 

 gooners." His offer of three times as much, 

 ^60, for "that Black you won" shows the 

 superiority of the Great Horse. 



Despite the prowess of Cromwell's lighter 

 cavalry, the day of the true Great Horse 

 was not yet at an end. In the year 1658 

 the Duke of Newcastle published his classic 

 volume — The Manner of Feeding, D^^essing 

 and Training of Horses for the Great Saddle 

 and Fitting them for the Service of the Field 

 in the Time of War. This very curious 

 and instructive volume, which was orio-in- 

 ally published in French at Antwerp contains 

 numerous elaborate copper-plate engravings, 

 most of which represent horses of the 

 one massive type with large limbs, heavy 



