Also we read that about the year 1617 “half-a-dozen Barbry horses” were brought to England by Sir Thomas Edmonds and stabled at Newmarket in the royal paddocks. A quaint description is to be found in the works of several of the writers in James I.'s reign of an accident that befell the king in December of the year 1621 as he was riding after dinner, an accident that in spite of its undeniable grotesqueness might well have proved disastrous. The king, it seems, had “gone abroad early in the day, and to Theobald's to dinner.” He appears to have enjoyed his dinner at Theobald's greatly, and to have decided quite suddenly, as soon as the meal was over, that he would like “to ride on horseback abroad.” The accident that presently was to occur is attributed by different writers to different causes, the most charitable of the reports being to the effect that the king's horse stumbled and threw his royal master on to the frozen surface of the New River “with so much violence that the ice brake and he fell in so that nothing but his boots were seen.” Sir Richard Young, who chanced to be riding just behind him, instantly sprang off his horse and succeeded with the help of a friend, though only with great difficulty, in dragging the dripping monarch “out of the hole and his undignified predicament.” According to another chronicler, “there came much water out of his mouth and body,” yet “His Majesty rid back to Theobald's, went into a warme bed, and, as we heere, is well, which God continue.” That the king had a sense of humour is made manifest by the statement that upon his recovery he laughed heartily at the recollection of the incident, while we are further told that his gratitude to Sir Richard Young, his rescuer, “did not stop short at the hearty grasp of the hand he gave him.” Mention has already been made of James's strange literary work, “Religio Regis: or the Faith and Duty of a Prince.” This is said to have been written during the King's temporary residence at Newmarket “for the betterment of his health” (_sic_). It was produced primarily for “the instruction and edification” of his son, Henry, at that time Prince of Wales, but it came to be read widely by his nobles and all about the court. In this remarkable treatise we are told that “the honourablest and most commendable Games that a king can use are on Horseback, for it becomes a Prince above all Men to be a good Horseman. And use such Games on Horseback as may teach you to handle your Arms thereon, such as Tilt, Ring, and low-riding for handling your sword.... “As for hunting, the most honourable and noblest Sport thereof is with running Hounds; for it is a thievish sport of hunting to shoot with Guns and Bows....