rnaturally endowed. An alarm was raised that Marocco
was possessed by the Evil One. To relieve misgivings and escape
reproach, Banks made his horse pay homage to the sign of the cross,
and called upon all to observe that nothing satanic could have been
induced to perform this act of reverence. A rumour at one time
prevailed that the horse and his master had both, as "subjects of the
Black Power of the world," been burned at Rome by order of the Pope.
More authentic accounts, however, show Banks as surviving to Charles
I.'s time, and thriving as a vintner in Cheapside. But it is to be
gathered from Douce's "Illustrations of Shakespeare," that of old
certain performing horses suffered miserably for their skill. In a
little book, "Le Diable Bossu," Nancy, 1708, allusion is made to the
burning alive at Lisbon, in 1707, of an English horse, whose master
had taught him to know the cards; and Grainger, in his "Biographical
History of England," 1779, states that, within his remembrance, "a
horse, which had been taught to perform several tricks, was, with its
owner, put into the Inquisition."

Marocco was but a circus horse; there is no evidence to show that he
ever trod the stage or took any part in theatrical performances. It is
hard to say, indeed, when horses first entered a regular theatre.
Pepys chronicles, in 1668, a visit "to the King's Playhouse, to see an
old play of Shirley's, called 'Hide Park,' the first day acted
[revived], where horses are brought upon the stage." He expresses no
surprise at the introduction of the animals, and this may not have
been their first appearance on the scene. He is content to note that
"Hide Park" is "a very moderate play, only an excellent epilogue
spoken by Beck Marshall." The scene of the third and fourth acts of
the comedy lies in the Park, and foot and horse races are represented.
The horses probably were only required to cross the stage once or
twice.

A representation of Corneille's tragedy of "Andromeda," in 1682,
occasioned great excitement in Paris, owing to the introduction of a
"real horse" to play the part of Pegasus. The horse was generally
regarded as a kind of Roscius of the brute creation, and achieved an
extraordinary success. Adorned with wings and hoisted up by machinery,
he neighed and tossed his head, pawed and pranced in mid-air after a
very lively manner. It was a mystery then, but it is common enough
knowledge now, that the horse's histrionic skill is founded