“When the Pale was troubled by an eruption of the O'Byrnes and O'Moores in 1372”—Professor Ridgeway writes in his interesting and instructive work, “The Origin and Influence of the Thoroughbred Horse”—“who burned the priory of Athy, John Colton, the first Master of Gonville Hall (now Gonville and Caius College) and successively Dean of St Patrick's, Chancellor of Ireland, and Archbishop of Armagh, raised a force of twenty-six knights and a large body of men-at-arms and fell upon the Irish and defeated them with great slaughter.” Upon referring to the records of this incident, to be found in several of our histories, it becomes evident that in the Pale at that time there must have been many horses of the stamp that to-day we speak of as the “great” horse. The insurrection alluded to so lightly as “an eruption of the O'Byrnes and O'Moores” in reality was a serious affair, due, we are told, mainly to the almost total disregard of certain just demands made by O'Byrne, O'Moore and their followers. The Irish were for the most part badly mounted and poorly armed, many of their horses having been seized surreptitiously a short time prior to the outbreak, but they appear to have made a very gallant defence. John Colton's men-at-arms were, however, nearly all of great weight and heavily armed, so it is not surprising to read that they “made short work of the Irish rebels.” Remarkable would it have been had they not done so, for we must bear in mind that their suppressors were of immeasurably superior strength. * * * * * A horse foaled some years after this, which lived to become famous in British history, was King Richard II.'s barbary, often called Roan Barbary. The king, we are told in rather extravagant language, “loved Roan Barbary as an only son,” and certainly it is true that he was exceptionally fond of this particular horse which poets, dramatists and writers of romance at various periods have all united in immortalising. Richard's grief and rage at hearing that Bolingbroke had chosen Roan Barbary, of all horses, upon which to ride to Westminster when he went there to be crowned, has many times been described, Shakespeare himself referring to the incident in _King Richard II_. in the well-known line, “When Bolingbroke rode on Roan Barbary, that horse that thou so often hast bestrid.” Roan Barbary was a tall horse, well shaped and well schooled, but of uncertain temper. The king “could do with the steed whate'er he wished,” but some of the grooms hardly dared approach to groom it “lest he sideways kick them.” It is interesting to note here that the history of early times, when it touches upon horses—which it does frequently—alludes upon many occasions to the partiality of particular horses for certain persons, and to their equally marked dislike for certain other persons.