History of the Company. St, 



On several occasions steps were taken to 

 restrict the use of coaches. In the supplementary 

 calendar of the Records in the House of Lords 

 there is a Draft Bill, dated 5th November, 1601, 

 which it is not unlikely the Company were instru- 

 mental in promoting. It is entitled "an Act to 

 restrain the Excessive and Superfluous use of 

 Coaches within the realm of England." It sets 

 forth that in consequence of the great increase in 

 the use of coaches, the Saddlers' trade is likely to 

 be ruined ; and not only so, but evil disposed 

 persons who dare not show themselves openly for 

 fear of correction, shadow and securely convey 

 themselves in coaches and cannot be discerned 

 from persons of honour, besides which the roads 

 are cloyed and festered and horses lamed. In 

 future, no one under the degree of a Knight or 

 a Privy Councillor, Queen's Counsel, &c., or 

 paying /^^o to the subsidy assessment, shall ride 

 or travel in coaches under penalty of ^5 for every 

 offence, and no person shall let coach or coach- 

 horses to any but those hereby authorised to use 

 them upon pain of forfeiting the same. It was 

 read for the first time on November 5, but on 

 the second reading two days later it was rejected, 

 and, as a compromise, a Bill touching the breed 

 and maintenance of horses was ordered to be 

 brought in by Mr. Attorney-General.^ In 1635 

 they had become so numerous as to be con- 

 sidered a nuisance by the Court, and had to be 



