THE HORSE 



12- 



of Brunswick felt compelled to issue an edict In England carriages came into use in the 



declaring that " the use of carriages was prej- second half of the sixteenth century, during 



udicial to the virile virtue, the good sense, the the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The first coach 



bravery, propriety, and firmness of the German was imported by the Earl of Arundel, to take 



nation, and was suitable only for lazy the place of the queen's sedan chair. 



persons." It was, in fact, injuri 

 ous to the interests of kings 

 and princes, because in 

 times of war (and those 

 were incessant) vassals 

 were compelled to 

 assist their sovereigns 

 with their persons, 

 their swords, thei r 

 horses, and their re- 

 tainers ; but now (as 

 the duke's edict goes on 

 to say), " instead o 

 themselves mounting th 

 horses, the knights stayi 

 home and sent their grooms 

 stewards, and other inexperienced 

 rabble, not on vigorous stallions but 

 on weak and puny beasts." Finally 

 matters came to such a pass that the warrior 



OllSTACLES TO Le.AP 



and to spare her the annoyance 

 ■:;, of riding pillion behind her 

 rand equerry. In France 

 we find mention of the 

 first coaches for hire in 

 1550. Thus it ap- 

 pears that vehicles 

 began to take the 

 ilace of equestrian- 

 ism in all countries at 

 about the same period, 

 — a period correspond- 

 ig to that of a reform 

 the intellectual world. 

 Chariots of war were known 

 lo antiquity. When Julius 

 Caesar conquered Britain in 55 B.C., 

 he encountered Briton warriors 

 seated in formidable chariots armed 

 with scythes fixed to the wheels. Even in Rome 



princes found themselves forced to employ the use of vehicles was early known, but none 

 contractors who, for stipulated sums of money, but victors, vestal virgins, and certain author- 

 undertook to procure both men and horses, ities were allowed to use them, and they could 



The same condition of affairs 

 existed in Spain at nearly the same 

 epoch. The grandees, who formerly 

 mounted their horses to display their 

 prowess with the lance as they had 

 seen it practiced by the Moors, or to 

 fight wild bulls in the arena, now 

 began to imitate the prelates, who 

 were dragged about comfortably in 

 coaches drawn by mules. A Spanish 

 grandee complained of it thus: 

 " Formerly there were brigands who 

 comported themselves like knights 

 and great matadores ; the brigands 

 of the present day are beggars and 

 the matadores bunglers." 



Philip II, king of Spain, took this 

 matter to heart in 1562. He issued 

 decrees against the breeding of mules 

 and tried to encourage that of horses. Interior of a Ridixc; School 



