To James I. we are probably indebted for the existence of the town of Newmarket, for it is certain that he not only inaugurated the construction of the village, but in addition brought his influence to bear upon its development, and that he greatly helped to stimulate the interest which the people of Newmarket and the neighbourhood already took in the breeding and training of running horses. It may be partly for this reason that Newmarket is still so often spoken of as “the royal village.” Notwithstanding the disappointment the Markham Arabian must have afforded James I., we read that the king offered a silver bell of considerable value to be run for at Newmarket, that the entries for the race were numerous, and that “the event gave rise to much speculation, wagering and public interest.” It was, indeed, in this connection that Ben Jonson wrote so caustically, or rather satirically, in his famous “Alchemist,” and alluded incidentally to “the rules to cheat at horse races.” Elsewhere Jonson describes, and mentions by name, some of the race horses that probably were well known on the Turf at about that period. Seeing how keen the interest was that James I. took almost from boyhood in all that related to the Turf, and to the breeding of race horses, we can hardly be surprised to hear that during his reign the general interest in the breeding of “great horses,” which had been so marked a feature of Henry VIII.'s reign, also of Elizabeth's reign, at one time threatened to die out. Robert Reyce speaks of this in his “Breviary of Suffolk,” a book which he dedicated to Sir Robert Crane, of Chiltern, and elsewhere allusions are to be found to the decay of interest in the breeding of “great horses.” Indeed James appears to have admitted quite openly that the bare sight of the animals bored him “owing to the clumsy appearance they presented,” a view that is shared to-day by several of the more prominent of our owners of race horses. Under the circumstances it is amusing to find the king himself inditing a ponderous treatise “for the instruction and edification of his son,” Henry, Prince of Wales, a treatise suitably enough entitled “Religio Regis: or the Faith and Duty of a Prince.” Apparently he wrote the greater part of this work at Newmarket, for in it he alludes more than once to the races which were being held there at the time, races at which he had been present on the day he wrote. That he deemed horsemanship to be a form of exercise of inestimable value becomes obvious as we read “Religio Regis”; but then in the reign of almost every monarch from about the beginning of the Stuart period down to the time of the four Georges great stress is laid by the various sovereigns upon the advisability that the sons of the nobles and of the aristocracy should become proficient horsemen.