35 



separate establishments, and each kept a 

 large number of horses, including race- 

 horses. The English system of stable 

 management had made such advances at 

 this time that Marshal Bassompierre, the 

 French Ambassador in London, refers to 

 it in his memoirs, and recommends that 

 English methods be followed in France. 

 The same writer speaks, too, of the supe- 

 riority of English horses. 



The hackney-coach question came up 

 again in this reign, and Charles issued a 

 Proclamation dealing with the subject 

 in January, 1636. He forbade the use of 

 coaches in London and Westminster unless 

 they were about to make a journey of at 

 least three miles ; and he required every 

 owner of a coach to keep four horses for 

 the King's service. We may conjecture 

 that his prohibition of hackney coaches was 

 not the outcome of a desire to encourage 

 horsemanship ; for about eighteen months 

 later he granted to his Master of the Horse, 

 James, Marquis of Hamilton, power to 

 license fifty hackney coachmen in London 

 and the suburbs and convenient places in 

 other parts of the realm. This license, 

 granted by Proclamation in July, 1637, 

 suggests favouritism, as according to a con- 



