Introduction. 13 



the French princesses usually rode on donkeys ; 

 and so late as the year 1534, a sacred festival was 

 attended by Queen Eleonora, and the females of 

 the blood royal of France, on horseback. Nor 

 did the superior and more recent invention of 

 coaches, for a long period, tend materially to 

 supersede, among ladies, the use of the saddle. 

 These vehicles, according to Stow, became known, 

 in England, in 1580 ; but, many years after, Queen 

 Elizabeth herself is described as having appeared, 

 almost daily, on her palfrey. In the time of 

 Charles the second, the fashion, among ladies, of 

 riding on horseback, declined ; during subsequent 

 reigns, it gradually revived ; and the exercise may 

 now be regarded as firmly established, among our 

 fair countrywomen, by the august example of their 

 illustrious Queen. 



The present graceful, secure, and appropriate 

 style of female equestrianism is, however, mate- 

 rially different from that of the olden time. In 

 by-gone days the dame or damosel rode precisely 

 as the knight or page. Of this, several illustra- 

 tions occur in an illuminated manuscript of the 

 fourteenth century, preserved in the Royal Li- 

 brary. In one of these, a lady of that period is 

 depicted on horseback, enjoying the pastime of 

 the chase. In another, are represented two gentle- 

 2 I 



