NEWMARKET IN EARLY DAYS. 21 



seat, on which occasions both lads and horses were 

 clad in new clothes. 



The King's partiality for Newmarket is often 

 alluded to in the literature, or rather written 

 records of the period. In Pepys' Diary, more 

 than one entry refers to the " Merry Monarch's" 

 fondness for the pastime of racing ; as for instance, 

 May 22nd, 1668 : "The King and Duke of York 

 and Court are at this day at Newmarket, at a 

 great horse-race ;" again on March 7th, 1669: " I 

 hear that the King and the Duke of York set out 

 for Newmarket by three in the morning, to see 

 some foot and horse-races." Having recourse to 

 the Diary of Pepys once more, we find him saying, 

 in an entry dated March 8th : " To Whitehall, from 

 whence the King, and the Duke of York, the 

 Duke of Monmouth, and the Prince Rupert, at the 

 King's gate in Holborne ; and the King all dirty, 

 but not hurt. How it came to pass I know not, 

 but only it was dark, and the torches did not, they 

 say, light the coach as they should do." Again, a 

 few weeks after this mishap, on April 26th, Pepys 

 tells us : " The King and Court went out of town 

 to Newmarket this morning betimes for a week." 



These extracts not only illustrate the fact of 

 the sport of horse-racing being in progress at 

 Newmarket at the period indicated, but are also 

 valuable as an illustration of the travelling facilities 

 of the time and the risks endured by Royalty. 



A peep at the kind of racing then in vogue 

 has been vouchsafed to us by the Duke of 

 Tuscany. The races of May 9th, 1669, at which 

 the King and the Duke of York were both 

 present, are thus described in his Grace's " Journal 

 ot his Travels in England": " The racecourse is a 



