I'IRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 23 



and then completely reversed, In respect of its 

 most mischievous provision, as has been pointed 

 out already at p. 18 ; and it was then that certain 

 arbitrary rules as to the weights to be carried 

 were first imposed and then rescinded, and that 

 certain more or less useful and workable pro- 

 visions, as to the real owners of the horses, the 

 entrance-money, etc., were added. In the same 

 reign the number of Royal Plates, which had 

 hitherto been eleven in England (exclusive of 

 Scotland and Ireland) was raised to sixteen ; viz., 

 three at Newmarket, one at York, one at Black 

 Hambleton, one at Nottingham, one at Lincoln, 

 one at Guildford, one at Winchester, one at Lewes, 

 one at Ipswich, one at Salisbury, one at Canter- 

 bury, one at Lichfield, one at Newcastle, and one 

 at Burford, which number in course of time was 

 doubled, or more than doubled, until, in our lavish 

 days, when thousands of guineas are daily offered 

 during the season by speculative companies bent 

 upon ultimate ruin, the Royal Plates in Eng- 

 land, having served and outlasted their pur- 

 pose, were first diminished in number, being 

 thereby insufficiently increased in value, and then 

 abolished. 



