42 



loss of proficiency in the saddle. He estab- 

 lished a riding school, placing in charge 

 Major Foubert, a French officer, whom he 

 invited to England for the purpose. At the 

 same time he recognised that travelling on 

 wheels would increase in popularity, and 

 took such measures as he might to prevent 

 the breed of horses from degenerating. His 

 Act of 1694 (5 an( l 6 Wm. and M., c. 22), 

 granting licenses to 700 hackney coaches, 

 four-wheel carriages, now called cabs, in 

 London and Westminster, contains a clause 

 forbidding the use of any horse, gelding or 

 mare under 14 hands in hackney or stage 

 coach. 



The increasing numbers of people who 

 travelled by stage coach had brought the 

 highwayman into flourishing existence, and 

 4 of Wm. and M. c. 8, to encourage the ap- 

 prehension of these gentry, gave the taker 

 of a highwayman the horse, arms, and other 

 property of the thief. In the tenth year of 

 his reign another Act was passed (10 Wm. 

 III., c. 12) which made horse stealers liable 

 to the penalty of branding on the cheek ; 

 this enactment, however, was repealed in 

 1706 by Queen Anne (6 Anne, 9), who 

 substituted burning in the hand for a penalty 

 which declared the sufferer's character to all 

 who saw him. 



