^ HORSE. Class I. 



of our manufadurcs, together with the former 

 negled of internal navigation to convey thofe ma- 

 nufadures, multiplied the number of our horfes : 

 an excefs of wealth, before unknown in thefe 

 iflands, incrcafcd the luxury of carriages, and 

 added to the neceffity of an extraordinary culture 

 of thefe animals : their high reputation abroad, 

 has alio made them a branch of commerce, and 

 proved another caufe of their vaft increafe. 



As no kingdom can boaft of parallel circum- 

 ftances, fo none can vie with us in the num.ber of 

 thefe noble quadrupeds; it would be extremely 

 difficult to guefs at the exadt amount of them, or 

 to form a periodical account of their increafe : the 

 number feems very fluctuating: William Fitz- 

 Stephen relates, that in the reign of King Stephen^ 

 London alone poured out 20,000 horfemen in the 

 wars of thofe times : yet we find that in the begin- 

 ning of Queen Elizabeth's reign % the whole king- 

 dom could not fupply 2000 horfes to form our 

 cavalry : and even in the year 1588, v^hen the na- 

 tion was in the moft imminent danger from the 

 Spanijrj invafion, all the cavalry which the nation 

 could then furnifh amounted only to 3000 : to ac- 

 count for this difference we muft imagine, that 

 ihe number of horfes which took the field in Ste- 

 phen\ reign was no more than an undifciplined 



* Vide Sir Edzvard Harivocii*s memorial. Harleian Mifc. 

 iv. 255. The number mentioned by Fitz-Siephens is pro- 

 bably erroneous, and ought to be read 2000. 



rabble 5 



