for the improvement of the British breeds of horses could alone be obtained from Eastern sources, whence it was introduced during a succession of years. James the First's Arabian, D'Arcey's White Turk, brought from the Northern coast of Africa by Pace, afterwards Master of the Horse to Cromwell; the Selaby Turk imported by the Duke of Buckingham, and the Morocco Barb by Lord Fairfax, &c. These were the days during which a great advance was made in the creation of swift horses; and from the works written about this period it is evident that the breeding of heavy horses was a declining pursuit, for we find Lord Harlegh lamenting "the visible diminution" The visible of the old stock known as "the great diminution of horse." "the great horse." During Charles I.'s reign the propagation of light and rapid horses was encouraged to so great an extent as to Presentation cause the presentation of a memorial to of a memorial to Charles I. that prince, stating that the breed of lamenting the gradual disappearance of stout horses fit for the defence of the country. stout and powerful horses, "fit for the defence of the country," was likely to disappear unless measures were adopted to encourage the propagation "of this useful and important type of horse." The occupation of the tournament horse had gone; that of the pack-horse had partially disappeared; the turf had usurped the place of the tilting-yard; the coach had removed a portion of the pack from the horse's back ; the order of the day was for swift gallopers, and every means by cross breeding and foreign importations was resorted to in order to effect the creation of horses, "who looked as though the speed of thought were in their limbs." From such ancestors the British thorough-bred has descended. During the civil wars, therefore, the love of horse-racing smouldered in the minds of Englishmen, but did not break out into full flame until after the Restoration, when it fell to the lot of Charles II. to become one of the most distinguished patrons the turf has ever known. He established the course at Newmarket, built a palace and stables there, organised the meeting at Datchet Mead near Windsor, and was, during his reign, the largest single handed importer of Oriental horses. Charles II. the first great supporter of the turf. |