Note 108b — Chapter VIII · THE ARCHÆOLOGY OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.

This relic of not less that 1700 years ago is further interesting from the fact that the bone, of which it is made, was proved to be that of a horse, yet the horse must have been smaller than any of the present day, except the Shetland pony. The Britons are known to have had horses of great size, which excited the admiration of Cæsar; which survived in the huge war-horse carrying the great weight of the mail-clad Norman knight in the active exercises of the tournament; and the descendants of which are the Shire horses of to-day.—“The Old English Warhorse,” by Sir Walter Gilbey. We may add here, as an interesting fact, that there is evidence to show that the horses of our neighbourhood were specially valued, as far back as the time of the Commonwealth. Cromwell wrote to an acquaintance, “I will give you sixty pieces for that black [horse] you won [in battle] at Horncastle”; and on the acquaintance not jumping at the offer, he wrote again, “I will give you all you ask for the black you won the last fight.”—Quoted, “Animals and their Conversations,” p. 85, by C. J. Cornish.