38 



This diary shows that stage coaches and 

 waggons were then plying between London 

 and Coventry, London and Aylesbury, 

 London and Bedford, and on other roads. 



It is highly improbable that there existed 

 any horses of the coaching stamp at this 

 period ; on the contrary, the wretched 

 condition of the roads until late in the 

 eighteenth century,* and the time occupied 

 on a journey, indicates that animals of the 

 Great Horse breed were used to drag the 

 ponderous vehicles through the mud. 



CHARLES II. (1660-1685). 



After the gloom of the Commonwealth 

 the nation was ripe for such changes in its 

 social life as came in with the Restoration. 

 Newmarket, which had been deserted during 

 the civil war and the rule of Cromwell, 

 recovered its former position as the head- 

 quarters of racing under the patronage of 

 Charles II. The King entered his horses 

 in his own name, and came to see them run, 

 residing at the King's House when he 

 visited Newmarket. He did away with the 

 bell as a prize, substituting a bowl or cup of 



* " Carriages : Their First Use in England," by 

 Sir Walter Gilbey ; Live Stock Journal Almanac, 1897. 



