36 



temporary publication* there were in 1636 

 over 6,000 coaches, private and public, in 

 London and the suburbs : surely more than 

 were needed, as some 10,000 odd hansoms 

 and four-wheelers meet London's normal re- 

 quirements to-day. 



Thomas D'Urfey's song,t " Newmarket," 

 which is thought to have been written in 

 the reign of Charles I., shows that New- 

 market was then, as now, regarded as the 

 headquarters of the Turf. 



THE COMMONWEALTH (1649-1659). 



Mr. Christie Whyte, in his History of the 

 English Turf, says: "Oliver Cromwell, 

 with his accustomed sagacity, perceiving 

 the vast benefit derived to the nation by 

 the improvement of its breed of horses, the 

 natural consequence of racing, patronised 

 this peculiarly national amusement, and we 

 find accordingly that he kept a racing stud." 

 If Cromwell kept a racing stable it was 

 before he took the style of "Lord Protector," 

 in December, 1653 ; for in February, 1654, 

 he issued his first Proclamation against 

 racing, in the shape of a prohibition for six 



18 Coach and Sedan. 

 f Pills to Purge Melancholy* 



