109 
. 'Racing . 
beverage reserved for the nobility. The milk, according 
to this traveller, was poured into a bladder, and shaken till 
it formed a sediment as thick as butter; the clear portion 
of the liquid was strained off, and formed a pleasant, 
slightly intoxicating drink. The lees or dregs were given 
to servants ( Purchas , vol. iii. p. 5). 
The history of racing in England dates from the reign 
of James I. This monarch had a passionate 
fondness for field sports. Under his super¬ 
intendence a code of regulations was drawn up, which 
served as a foundation for the laws of racing as they 
exist to-day. Begular courses were established, in which 
what were called running-horses competed. Manningham, 
in his Diary , takes notice of what was probably one of 
the earliest races in England :— 
“ This day [April 6, 1602] there was a race at Sapley neere 
Huntingdon, invented by the gentlemen of that county: at this Mr. 
Oliver Cromwell’s horse won the sylver hell; and Mr. Cromwell had 
the glory of the day. Mr. Hynd came behinde.” (Ed. Camden 
Society, 1868, p. 49.) 
In Baker’s Chronicle , 1612, we read that private 
matches between gentlemen who rode their own horses 
were very common in that year. The most celebrated 
races of the time were called bell courses. At these 
races the prize of a bell was given to the winner. It has 
been contended that the phrase “ to bear the bell ” may 
have had its origin in this custom. It is probably to 
one of these matches that Imogen alludes :— 
“ I have heard of riding wagers, 
Where horses have been nimbler than the sands 
That run i’ the clock’s behalf.” 
('Cymbeline , iii. 2, 74.) 
Exhibitions of animals trained to perform tricks were 
not unfrequent at this period. The plays of _ 
-*■ i- x «/ morocco. 
the time contain many references to Marocco, 
a bay gelding, fourteen years old, belonging to a Scotch- 
