30 HISTORY OF THE 



***** Dost thou prize 

 Thy brute beast's worth by their dam's quahties ? 

 Say'st thou, this colt shall prove a swift-paced steed. 

 Only because a jennet did him breed ? 

 Or say'st thou, this same horse shall win the prize. 

 Because his dam was swiftest Trunchifice, 

 Or Runcevall his syre : himself a galloway ? 

 While like a tireling jade, he lags half way. 



It is remarkable that such was the large falling 

 off in the number of cavalry horses between the 

 reign of Edward VI, in 1547, and the middle 9f 

 Ehzabeth, that in 1588, when England was 

 threatened by the Spanish Armada, no more 

 than 3,000 cavalry could be mustered in the 

 whole kingdom, to suppress the invasion. 



Towards the close of this reign coaches were 

 introduced by Fitzallen, Earl of Arundel, their 

 inventor, and such was the demand for horses 

 thus occasioned, that a bill was actually intro- 

 duced into the House of Lords, to restrain the 

 excessive use of coaches. It was, however, lost 

 on the second reading. Before this the Queen 

 was, on state occasions, accustomed to ride be- 

 hind her master of the horse. But for a con- 

 siderable period after the introduction of coaches, 

 saddle horses continued in use at state cere- 

 monies ; for so late as the Restoration, King 

 Charles the Second made his entrance into Lon- 



