horse, on their newly-acquired estates. The historians of these times however, principally monks, knowing nothing about horses, give us very little information on the subject.

In the reign of Henry I. (A. D. 1121) the first Arabian horse, or, at least, the first on record, was introduced. Alexander I., king of Scotland, presented to the church of St. Andrew's an Arabian horse, with costly furniture, Turkish armour, many valuable trinkets, and a considerable estate.

Forty years afterwards, in the reign of Henry II., Smithfield was celebrated as a horse-market. Fitz-Stephen, who lived at that time, gives the following animated account of the manner in which the hackneys, and charging-steeds were tried there, by racing against one another. "When a race is to be run by this sort of horses, and perhaps by others, which also in their kind are strong and fleet, a shout is immediately raised and the common horses are ordered to with

draw out of the way. Three jockeys, or, sometimes only two, as the match is made, prepare themselves for the contest. The horses on their part are not without emulation : they tremble and are impatient, and are continually in motion. At last, the signal once given, they start, devour the course, and hurry along with unremitting swiftness. The jockeys inspired with the thought of applause, and the hope of victory, clap spurs to their willing horses, brandish their whips, and cheer them with their cries." This description reminds us of the more lengthened races of the present day, and proves the blood of the English horse, even before the Eastern breed was tried.

Close on this followed the Crusades. The champions of the cross certainly had it in their power to enrich their native country with some of the choicest specimens of Eastern horses, but they were completely under the influence of superstition and fanaticism, and common sense and usefulness were forgotten.

An old metrical romance, however, records the excellence of two horses belonging to Richard Coeur de Lion, which he purchased at Cyprus, and which were therefore, probably, of Eastern origin.

Yn this worlde they hadde no pere",
Dromedary nor destrere +,

Stede, Rabytet, ne Cammele,

Goeth none so swifte, without fayle:
For a thousand pownd of gold,
Ne should the one be solde.

The war-steed was defended by mail or plate, much on the plan of the harness of the knight himself. His head was ornamented with a crest. The head, chest, and flanks, were wholly or partially protected; and sometimes he was clad in complete steel, with the arms of his master engraved or embossed on his bardings. The bridle of the horse was always as splendid as the circumstances of the knight allowed, and thus a • Peer, equal. + War horse. 1 Arabian.

The price of horses at this period was singularly uncertain. In 1185, fifteen breeding mares sold for two pounds twelve shillings and sixpence. They were purchased by the monarch, and distributed among his tenants, and, in order to get something by the bargain, he charged the great sum of four shillings each. Twenty years afterwards, ten capital horses brought no less than twenty pounds each; and, twelve years later, a pair of horses were imported from Lombardy, for which the extravagant price of thirty-eight pounds thirteen shillings and fourpence was given. The usual price of good handsome horses was ten pounds, and the hire of a car or cart, with two horses, was tenpence a-day.

To King John, hateful as he was in all other respects, we are yet much indebted for the attention which he paid to agriculture generally, and particularly to improving the breed of horses. He imported one hundred chosen stallions of the Flanders kind.

John accumulated a very numerous and valuable stud. He was eager to possess himself of every horse of more than usual power; and, at all times, gladly received, from the tenants of the crown, horses of a superior quality, instead of money, for the renewal of grants, or the payment of forfeitures belonging to the crown. It was his pride to render his cavalry, and the horses for the tournament and for pleasure, as perfect as possible. It could not be expected that so haughty a tyrant would concern himself much with the inferior kinds; yet, while the superior was becoming rapidly more valuable, the others would, in an indirect manner, partake of the improvement.

One hundred years afterwards, Edward II. purchased thirty Lombardy war-horses, and twelve heavy draught-horses. Lombardy, Italy, and Spain were the countries whence the greater part of Europe was then supplied with the most valuable cavalry or parade horses. Horses for agricultural purposes were chiefly procured from Flanders.

Edward III. devoted one thousand marks to the purchase of fifty Spanish horses; and of such importance did he conceive this addition to the English, or rather mingled blood, then existing, that formal application was made to the kings of France and Spain to grant safe conduct to the troop. When they had arrived at the royal stud, it was computed that they had cost the monarch no less than thirteen pounds six shillings and eightpence per horse, equal in value to one hundred and sixty pounds of our present money.

This monarch had many running-horses. The precise meaning of the term is not, how.

ever, clear. It might be light and speedy horses, in opposition to the war-horse: or those that were literally used for the purpose of racing. The average price of these runninghorses was twenty marks, or three pounds six shillings and eightpence. Edward was devoted to the sports of the turf or the field, or he began to see the propriety of crossing our stately and heavy breed with those of a lighter structure and greater speed.

There was, however, one impediment to this, which was not for a very long period removed. The soldier was cased in heavy armour. The knight, with all his accoutrements, often rode more than twenty-five stone. No little bulk and strength were required in the animal to carry this back-breaking weight. When the musket was substituted for the cross-bow and battle-axe, and this iron defence, cumbrous to the wearer and destructive to the horse, was useless, and laid aside, the improvement of the British horse in reality commenced.

While Edward was thus eager to avail himself of foreign blood, with the too frequent selfishness of the sportsman, he would let no neighbour share in the advantage. The exportation of horses was forbidden under very heavy penalties. Nay, so jealous were these sister-kingdoms of each other's prosperity, that so late as the time of Elizabeth, it was felony to export horses from England to Scotland.

The English horse was advancing, although slowly, to an equality with, or even superiority over those of neighbouring countries. His value began to be more generally and highly estimated, and his price rapidly increased so much so, that breeders and the dealer, then, as now, skilful in imposing on the inexperienced, obtained from many of our young grandees enormous prices for them. This evil magnified to such an extent that Richard II. (1386) interfered to regulate and determine the price. The proclamation which be issued is interesting not only as proving the increased value of the horse, but showing what were, four hundred and fifty years ago, what are, still, the chief breeding districts. It was ordered to be published, in the counties of Lincoln and Cambridge, and the East and North Ridings of Yorkshire; and the price of the horse was restricted to that which had been determined by former sovereigns.

We can now collect but little of the history of the horse until the reign of Henry VII., at the close of the fifteenth century. He continued to prohibit the exportation of stallions, but allowed that of mares when more than two years old, and under the value of six shillings and eightpence. This regulation was, however, easily evaded, for if a mare could be found worth more than six shillings and eightpence, she might be freely exported on the payment of that sum.

Henry VIII., a tyrannical and crue! prince, but fond of show and splendour, was very

anxious to produce a valuable breed of horses; and the means which he adopted were both perfectly in unison with his arbitrary disposition, and very little calculated to effect his object. He affixed a certain standard, below which no horse should be kept. The lowest height for the stallion was fifteen hands, and for the mare thirteen hands; and even before they had arrived at their full growth, no stallion above two years old, and under fourteen hands and a half, was permitted to run on any forest, moor, or common, where there were mares. At "Michaelmas-tide" the neighbouring magistrates were ordered to "drive" all forests and commons, and not only destroy such stallions, but all "unlikely tits," whethermares or geldings, or foals,' which they might deem not calculated to produce a valuable breed. He likewise ordained, that in every deer-park a certain number of mares, in proportion to its size, and each at least thirteen hands high, should be kept; and that all his prelates and nobles, and all those whose "wives wore velvets," should keep stallions for the saddle at least fifteen hands high. These ordinances perished with the tyrant by whom they were promulgated.

It

The reign of Henry VIII. produced the earliest English treatise on agriculture, and the management of horses and cattle. It was written by Sir A. Fitzherbert, Judge of the Common Pleas, and contains much useful information. It is entitled, "Boke of Husbandry;" and, being now exceedingly rare, an extract from it may not be unacceptable. would seem that the mare had been but lately employed in husbandry, for he says, "A husbande may not be without horses and mares, and specially if he goe with a horse-plough ne must have both his horses to draive; his mares to brynge colts to uphold his stocke, and yet at many times they may draive well if they be well handled." The learned judge shared the common fate of those who have to do with the horse. "Thou grasyer, that mayst fortune to be of myne opinion or condytion to love horses, and young coltes and foles to go among thy cattle, take hede that thou be not beguiled as I have been a hundred tymes and more. And first thou shalt knowe that a good horse has 54 properties, that is to say, 2 of a man, 2 of a badger, 4 of a lion, 9 of an oxe, 9 of a hare, 9 of a foxe, 9 of an asse, and 10 of a woman."*

The tyrannical edicts of Henry VIII. had the effect which common sense would have

• Later writers have pirated from Sir A., but have not improved upon him. The following description of the horse is well known. "A good horse should have three qualities of a woman, a broad breast, round hips, and a long mane;-three of a lion,-coun tenance, courage, and fire-three of a bullock,-the eye, the nostril, and joints,-three of a sheep,-the nose, gentleness, and patience;-three of a mule,strength, constancy, and foot; three of a deer,-head, legs, and short hair;-three of a wolf;-throat, neck, and hearing; three of a fox,-ear, tail, and trot;-three

of a serpent,-memory, sight, and cunning; and threz

of a hare or cat,-running, walking, and suppleness."

anticipated, the breed of horses was not materially improved, and their numbers were sadly diminished. When the bigot, Philip of Spain, threatened England, in the reign of Elizabeth, with his Invincible Armada, that princess could muster in her whole kingdom only three thousand cavalry to oppose him; and Blundeville, who wrote at this time a very pleasant and excellent book on the art of riding, speaks contemptuously of the qualities of these horses.

Blundeville describes the majority of our horses as consisting of strong, sturdy beasts, fit only for slow draught, and the few of a lighter structure being weak and without bottom.

An account has been given of the racing trial of the horses in Smithfield market. Regular races were now established in various parts of England. Meetings of this kind were first held at Chester and Stamford; but there was no acknowledged system as now; and no breed of racing horses. Hunters and hackneys mingled together, and no description of horse was excluded.

There was at first no course marked out for the race, but the contest generally consisted in the running of train-scent across the country, and sometimes the most difficult and danger. ous part of the country was selected for the exhibition. Occasionally our present steeple chase was adopted with all its dangers, and more than its present barbarity; for persons were appointed cruelly to flog along the jaded and exhausted horses.

The prize was usually a wooden bell adorned with flowers. This was afterwards exchanged for a silver bell, and "given to him who should run the best and farthest on horseback

on Shrove Tuesday." Hence the common phrase of "bearing away the bell."

Horse-racing became gradually more cultivated; but it was not until the last year of the reign of James I., that rules were promulgated and generally subscribed to for their regulation. That prince was fond of field sports. He had encouraged, if he did not establish, horse-racing in Scotland, and he brought with him to England his predilection for it; but his races were more often matches against time, or trials of speed and bottom.

Although the Turkish and Barbary horses had been freely used to produce with the English mare the breed which was best suited to this exercise, little improvement had been effected. James, with great judgment, determined to try the Arab breed. Probably, he had not forgotten the story of the Arabian, which had been presented to one of his Scottish churches five centuries before. He purchased, from a merchant named Markham, a celebrated Arabian horse, for which he gave the extravagant sum of five hundred pounds. Kings, however, like their subjects, are often thwarted and governed by their servants, and the Duke of Newcastle took a dislike to this foreign animal. He wrote a book, and a very

good one, on horsemanship, and described this Arabian as a little bony horse, of ordinary shape, setting him down as good for nothing, because, after being regularly trained, he could not race.

A south-eastern horse was afterwards brought into England, and purchased by James, of Mr. Place, who was afterwards stud-master, or groom to Oliver Cromwell. This beautiful animal was called the White Turk, and his name and that of his keeper will long be remembered. Shortly afterwards appeared the Helmsley Turk, introduced by Villiers, the first duke of Buckingham. He was followed by Fairfax's Morocco Barb. These horses speedily effected a considerable change in the character of our breed.

Charles I. ardently pursued this favorite object of English gentlemen, and a little before his rupture with the parliament, established races in Hyde Park, and at Newmarket. The civil wars somewhat suspended the improvement of the breed; yet the advantage which was derived by both parties from a light and active cavalry, sufficient proved the importance of the change which had been effected; and Cromwell perceiving, with his wonted sagacity, how much these pursuits were connected with the prosperity of the country, had his stud of race-horses.

At the Restoration a new impulse was given to the cultivation of the horse by the inclination of the court to patronise gaiety and dissipation. The races at Newmarket were restored, and as an additional spur to emulation, royal plates were now given at each of the principal courses. Charles II. sent his master of the horse to the Levant, to purchase brood mares and stallions. These were principally Barbs and Turks.

From that period to the middle of the last century, the system of improvement was zealously pursued; every variety of Eastern blood was occasionally engrafted on ours, and the superiority of the engrafted, above the very best of the original stock, began to be evident.

Man is rarely satisfied with any degree of perfection in the object on which he has set his heart. The sportsman had now beauty of form, and speed and stoutness, scarely an approach to which had been observed in the original breed. Still some imagined that this speed and stoutness might possibly be increased; and Mr. Darley, in the latter part of the reign of Queen Anne, had recourse to the discarded and despised Arabian.

This last improvement now furnishes all that can be desired; nor is this true only of the thorough-bred or turf-horse; it is to a very material degree the case with every description of horse. By a judicious admixture and proportion of blood, we have rendered our hunters, our hackneys, our coach, nay even our cart horses, much stronger, more active, and more enduring, than they wer before the introduction of the race-horse.

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tropolis, with little more ability than by mere plodding, when any thing like a chance has offered itself, and only been backed with care, economy, and integrity. It does not appear that the hero of this memoir ever possessed brains enough to have made him a Chancellor of the Exchequer; neither did he display talents enough to have cut a figure' upon the stock exchange; but, nevertheless, he was aware, that two and two' made four. To live within his income' was the first great point he had to master; and that when prosperity shone upon his humble roof, his mind still remained steady to his purpose; namely, to increase his store; thus step by step, did the late John Howell move forwards in society until he obtained a competency, which enabled He then aphim altogether to cut trade. peared before the world in a new characterwhen he endeavoured to act like a gentleman, if he had never been studied' in the part; he, therefore, selected Margate as a place of retirement well calculated to suit his purpose, where he might spin out his thread' and " measure' his way the remainder of his life with ease and pleasure-' unbend' in any way that he thought proper-either to be familiar or distant in his mixture with society-to shy an acquaintance, or to meet an old friend

of the present Mrs. Piozzi (a lady highly distinguished for her literary talents), as related by Dr. Johnson, is an anecdote well worthy the perusal of every person who feels any sort of anxiety to raise himself in society. Mr. Thrale, to his great praise be it remembered, had but a salary of twelve shillings a week in the above large establishment, for many years after he had arrived at a state of manhood. His talents, however, enabled him to purchase that immense brewery. He also had a family of twelve children, which were brought up in the first style of elegance, and to whom, at his death, he left very large fortunes. Another instance of an enterprising mind is to be discovered in the person of the present Mr. ROTHSCHILD, who, from being a clerk in a mercantile house in Manchester, has, in the course of a few fleeting years, risen so rapidly in point of wealth, as to have been enabled to take the whole of a Government loan of five millions without assistance from any other house: a circumstance never before accomplished by an individual. It is said Mr. Rothschild is worth three millions of money. He has, likewise, most extensive establishments in France, Holland, Germany, and Spain. Indeed, he may be considered the first monied man in the world. It ought not to be forgotten that Mr. Rothschild is one of the first, also, in support of all public charities. It is likewise worthy of remark, that the present LUKE HANSARD, Esq., Printer to the House of Commons, treading in the steps of Mr. Thrale, has equally distinguished himself. This immeuse literary establishment has been realized by Mr. Luke Hansard, from his never-tiring industry ALONE! arrived in London without a patron,-nay, more, without a friend. With the world only before him as a guide to his future exertions, he has performed an Herculean attempt. Mr. H. has also brought up a large family. His talents, as an expeditious printer, are so great, as to be without a rival. The House of Commons, for the last twenty-five years, have acknowledged the accuracy and expedition he has displayed, with the highest encomiums on his exertions. The above facts are introduced merely to show what HAS and what MAY be done with perseverance. Indeed, the Metropolis points out many great men in this respect-and surely such conduct is entitled to the term of great: volumes would not suffice to detail how many vast fortunes in London have been originated.-Life in London, 1821

He

with the warmth and rapture of a man of the world.

Mr. Howell was well known for many years in London, to borrow the phrase of Tattersall's, as the "prime fit" of his day. He was of that class of character peculiar to England : having earned a fortune by industry, he held up his head and pursued the bent of his inclination with bold independence, though stamped with considerable eccentricity.

His customers were of the best class; he lived in the happy days when the cash was forthcoming for his work; and although a few of his customers, to use his own words, were rather "long-winded," and he considered it ungenteel to ask a gentleman for money, yet most of the names in his books were as good as the bank directors. If any customer of property owed him £100, he would not take £99 19s. 113d. for the debt. "Some difference, now-a-days!" he would lately say, laughing over his pipe: "the unthinking dashing sparks whitewash their long accounts for twist, tape, and buckram." Mr. Howell did business for a number of gentlemen connected with the turf; and the present sir Henry Goodriche was one of his greatest patrons. He was of a facetious turn of mind, and the above connection first gave him a taste for the sports of the field. He would often slily get a day's sporting--cut the shopboard, give the steel-bar rest, put his measures on the shelf, secure his shears, give his goose repose, and leave his pattern-card with his foreman.

that a

Mr. Howell himself never neglected his toilet; his clothes were always of the first quality and workmanship. He was aware "good appearance" in life had its weight with every class of society. He therefore, in his relaxations, dressed himself for the part-left the tradesman at home-assumed the gay, lively, sporting character, and entered into the spirit of the scene with as much importance as if he had been a great landed proprietor. He boasted of being a good shot, and of the armies of birds he had bagged in his time; his description of a coursing match was dramatic, and his ecstasy in relating his enjoyment on witnessing the hounds in full cry was almost without bounds.

He was a tradesman of the "old school" in his shop; his cut was generally considered tasteful, and he was successful at pleasing his customers. During the time his hands were employed in measuring the bust of a nobleman, or the back of a tradesman, his tongue kept pace with his movements. He retailed a good stock of anecdotes of living persons, put forwards with the usual preface, "it is said," ,"" they do say," "I have heard," "but the story did not originate with me," &c. He was not wanting in that confidence in his own acquirements, vulgarly called bronze; he ingratiated himself with most of his customers by that quality, and he obtained the appellation generally of an eccentric fellow.