the riding heats for a plate, or other premium. The amusement of horse-racing, which is now so common, was not unknown amongst the great nations of antiquity, nor wholly unpractised even by our ancestors in Britain. In 1599, private matches between gentlemen, who rode their own horses, were very common; and in the reign of James I., public races were established at various places, when the discipline, and mode of preparing the horses for running, were much the same as they are now. The most celebrated races of that time were called bell-courses, the prize of the conqueror being a bell; and hence, perhaps, is derived the phrase "bearing the bell," when applied to excellence. For a full account of the race-horse, see Horse.