216 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 
although, as I have suggested, it is possible that the 
native horse of England obtained some beauty, grace, 
and agility by an infusion of Eastern blood. 
Mr. Gilbey, so far as I know, is the only writer 
who has endeavored to prove, though others have 
asserted, the identity of the war horse of the Middle 
Ages with the old black cart horse of England; and 
he relies almost entirely upon the evidence of coins 
and other graven representations. But in such fig- 
ures much must be allowed for the taste or caprice 
of the artist, and I suspect that Mr. Gilbey’s series 
might be impugned by others. For the period be- 
ginning about the year 1500 he shows the famous 
white horse of Albert Ditrer, that has indeed the char- 
acteristics of a cart horse. But in the College of 
Arms there is preserved an illustrated roll, known 
as Tournament Roll, commemorating a grand tour- 
nament which took place at Westminster on February 
12, 1510, in honor of Queen Katherine; and the war 
horse represented by this roll is a much finer beast 
than Albert Diirer’s. He has a beautifully curved 
neck, a small, well shaped head, and he is disfigured 
by no long hairs at the fetlock joints. This picture 
may of course be idealized, but it is as good historical 
evidence as the coins produced by Mr. Gilbey. The 
whole matter is one of not very profitable conjecture, 
but it is worth remembering that the Middle Ages, 
during which the war horse was in daily use, consti- 
tuted along period, and it is hardly credible that in 
this time a true war horse should not have been de- 
veloped, more active, spirited, and beautiful than the 
shire horse. One writer, indeed, of a date as early 
as the sixteenth century, speaks of his high action, — 
