47 
at least one visit paid by him to Newmarket, 
in October 1717, is recorded; nor does the 
parliamentary history of his brief reign show 
that much attention was given to the work 
of improving our horses. 
The science of travel had gone back 
rather than forward, for in 1715 the post 
from London to Edinburgh took six days, 
whereas in 1635 it took three. At this time, 
and until 1784, the mails were carried by 
boys on horseback; and between the 
badness of the roads, the untrustworthiness 
of the boys, and the wretched quality of 
the horses supplied them, the postal service 
was both slow and uncertain. The Post 
Office still held the monopoly (first granted 
in 1603) of furnishing post-horses at a rate 
of threepence a mile, and its control over 
its subordinates was of the slightest. 
The only Act of George I.’s reign re- 
lating to horses was that of 1714 (1 
George I., c. 11), which forbade waggoners, 
carriers, and others, from drawing any 
vehicle “(with more than four horses in 
length.” 
The omission of reference to oxen in this 
connection may indicate that for draught 
purposes on the highways they were going 
out of use. 
