I30 THE HISTORY OF NEWMARKET. [Book III. 



palace — Political incidents — Bishop Racket's justification of the 

 King's conduct — -Business and recreation at Newmarket — The King 

 makes a book — Theology — State of the roads between London and 

 Newmarket — " Essex miles "—Royal injunctions to repair the New- 

 market road — And the cost — 1610. Visit of the King in May — 

 Arrival of the Prince of Wirtemberg — And French dancing and 

 fencing masters to instruct the Prince of Wales in those arts — 161 1. 

 Sojourns of the King in the Spring and Autumn — Sir Roger Aston 

 — Arrival of a present of falcons from the King of Denmark — Visit 

 of the Swedish ambassador — Paucity of sporting intelligence — 

 Plethora of routine affairs — The roads again — £. s. d. — Royal order 

 to increase the value of the currency — The standard weight of the 

 coins of the realm — Passing events — Sir Dudley Diggs' hobby — 

 The royal mint — Anecdote of the Spanish ambassador and the 

 King — Mode of furnishing the lodgings of the Corps Diplomatique 

 at Newmarket — The Earl of Suffolk — 161 2. Brief visit of the King 

 in the Spring — 1613. Royal sojourns in January, February, March, 

 and November — Marriage of the Princess Elizabeth — Arrival of 

 the bride, bridegroom, the royal family, and the court — The royal 

 disports — Departure of the Queen of Bohemia — Her hounds and 

 horses — Alleged collapse of the palace — Narrow escape of the King 

 — Lord Chancellor Egcrton — The preachers in ordinary for the 

 sporting journeys — Their expenses at Newmarket — ^The royal 

 farriers and their expenses — " Comparisons are odious " — 1614. 

 Arrival of the King in January — The cares of state — Royal visit in 

 July— Arrival of the King of Denmark — The royal sports — The 

 Autumn meetings — Serious accident to the King — Quarrel between 

 the Earl of Montgomery and Lord IValden about their matches — ■ 

 Incidental expenses at the palace during the royal visits. 



" Newmarket has long been celebrated in the annals 

 of horsemanship for its extensive heath, which, in 

 the neighbourhood of this town, has been formed 

 into one of the finest race-courses in the kingdom. 

 The diversion of horse-racing, though undoubtedly 

 practised in this country in the time of the Romans, 

 does not appear to have made any considerable pro- 

 gress, but rather became extinct, till the accession of 

 James the First, who again introduced it from Scotland, 

 where it came into vogue from the spirit and swiftness 

 of the Spanish horses which had been wrecked in the 



