28 
beth rode on a pillion behind her Master of 
the Horse when she went in state to St. 
Paul’s; but when hunting or hawking she 
seems to have ridden her own _ palfrey. 
Coaches increased so rapidly towards the 
end of Elizabeth’s reign that a bill was 
brought into the House of Lords (1601) to 
check their use. The measure was lost, the 
Lords directing the Attorney-General to 
frame a new bill to secure more attention 
to horse-breeding instead, but if this was 
done the bill never passed into law. 
The Queen was an ardent supporter of 
the Turf and kept racehorses at Greenwich, 
Waltham, St. Albans, Eaton, Hampton 
Court, Richmond, Windsor and Charing 
Cross. Racing had become a_ popular 
amusement in the earlier years of Eliza- 
beth’s reign, and her participation in the 
sport was probably due in great measure 
to her conviction that it must prove bene- 
ficial to the breeding industry. The Roodee 
at Chester appears to have been one of the 
first public racecourses ; the townspeople 
gave a silver bell to be run for. Racing 
was well established in Scotland at an 
earlier date; in 1552, during Edward VI.’s 
reign, there were races with bells as prizes. 
There were races at Salisbury in 1585, 
