THE STABLE AND COACH-HOUSE. 



Cloak-bags were superseded by port mantles, as they are 

 called. From the higher price of these conveniences I con- 

 clude that they were made of more substantial materials. 

 My first entry is in 1636, when the price is los. In 1648 and 

 1657 it is TS. ; in 1662 it is ics. ; in 1681, i6s. ; in 1690, i$s. 

 With these may be taken a sealskin trunk bought by Master 

 in 1661 for i$s. 



Curry-combs are of various prices. The highest-priced which 

 I have seen, 6s. t is bought by Eton College in 1673 ; the lowest, 

 <V., by Corpus Christi College in 1610. The average of eleven 

 entries between 1583 and 1687 is 2s. Mane-combs, in the early 

 period only, are generally 6d. each. In 1685 a mane-comb 

 and brush are priced together at $s. 6d. In course of time, 

 the corporations, probably the private owners, trusted their 

 grooms with these minor purchases, and sometimes even with 

 important purchases, such as those of oats, beans, hay, straw, 

 and horse-bread. A dusting- comb in 1588 costs is. 4d. It is 

 probably very much the same as a curry-comb. 



Lanterns for the stable are quoted under this name nine 

 times. The price is from lod. to 2s. The average of the nine 

 entries is is. 6d. A stable-prong in 1592 costs 8d. ; a stable- 

 fork in 1631, Sd. A stable-shovel in 1592 is lod. ; in 1636, 

 is. ^d. A stable-bucket in 1608 is is. ^d. ; an oat-sieve in 

 1690, Sd. Stable-brooms in 1654 are 2s. the dozen. In 1612 

 a stable-barrow costs Js. 6d. 



Horseshoes are $d. each in 1596, and go up to ^d. from 

 1599 to 1646, then they are 6d. and $d. Towards the end of 

 the period they are 6d., and in the last year but one Sd. 



The accounts sometimes give prices of riding-boots. In 

 1583 they are 15^. lod. ; in 1584, 9^. ; in 1647, 14^.; in 1674, 

 24.?. ; in 1693, 14^. My reader will remember that they are, 

 as represented in the prints of the time, very long and full. 



Of horse medicines, I have found nerval again. It occurs 

 before in 1454 (vol. iii. p. 555, col. i), at Sd. a pound; here it 

 is icv/. It is however very likely that some of the few 

 medicines which have been recorded, and on which I shall 



