38 
This diary shows that stage coaches and 
wagegons were then plying between London 
and Coventry, London and aAylesbury, 
London and Bedford, and on other roads. 
It is highly improbable that there existed 
any horses of the coaching stamp at this 
period; on the contrary, the wretched 
condition of the roads until late in the 
eighteenth century,* and the time occupied 
on a journey, indicates that animals of the 
Great Horse breed were used to drag the 
ponderous vehicles through the mud. 
CHARLES II. (1660-1685). 
After the gloom of the Commonwealth 
the nation was ripe for such changes in its 
social life as came in with the Restoration. 
Newmarket, which had been deserted during 
the civil war and the rule of Cromwell, 
recovered its former position as the head- 
quarters of racing under the patronage of 
Charles I]. The King entered his horses 
in his own name, and came to see them run, 
residing at the King’s House when he 
visited Newmarket. He did away with the 
bell as a prize, substituting a bowl or cup of 
* «Carriages: Their First Use in England,” by 
Sir Walter Gilbey ; Live Stock Journal Almanac, 1897. 
