QUEEN ELIZABETH'S RETINUE 193 



been in a measure responsible for this — and the 

 knowledge must have vexed Elizabeth, who 

 took particular pride in her riding and was 

 desirous above many other things to be deemed 

 a finished horsewoman. How vast a number of 

 horses must have been owned by the nobles and 

 by other persons of wealth who dwelt scattered 

 over the whole of England may be gathered from 

 the statement of Ralph Holinshed that Queen 

 Elizabeth alone required, when she travelled, 

 some 2400 animals, almost all of which had to 

 be provided by residents in the districts in which 

 she moved. 



The majority of these horses were employed to 

 drag the great carts which contained the queen's 

 baggage, yet we are told that " the ancient use 

 of somers and sumpter horses " having been 

 " utterly relinquished, causeth the trains of our 

 princes in their progresses to show far less 

 than those of the kings of other nations." 



Naturally it must be borne in mind that the 

 weight of the baggage of persons of rank in the 

 sixteenth century was excessive, especially when 

 it was added to the weight of the clumsy carts 

 that were used for the conveyance of such bag- 

 gage, so that four, six and even more horses 

 were often enough harnessed to a single cart 

 when it was fully loaded. 



Then, too, the roads were for the most part in 

 so bad a state of repair — many of them could not, 



