THE HORSE 



123 



of Brunswick felt compelled to issue an edict In En<(land carria<:;"cs came intc) use in the 



declaring that "the use of carriages was prej- second half of the sixteenth century, duiing 



udicial to the virile virtue, the good sense, the the reign of Queen Elizabeth, The first coach 



bravery, propriety, and firmness of the German was imported by the Earl of Arundel, to take 



nation, and was suitable only for lazy 

 persons." It was, in fact, injuri- .^' 

 ous to the interests of kings ./' 

 and princes, because in 

 times of war (and those 

 were incessant) vassals 

 were compelled to 

 assist their sovereigns 

 with their persons, 

 their swords, their 

 horses, and their re- 

 tainers ; but now (as 

 the duke's edict goes on 

 to say), "instead of 

 themselves mounting then 

 horses, the knights stayed at 

 home and sent their giooms 

 stewards, and other inexpenLneed 

 rabble, not on vigorous stallions but 



on weak and puny beasts." F"inally 



Obstacles to Le.\p 



the place of the queen's sedan chair, 

 \ and to spare her the annoyance 

 of ri(hng ]ji]li(jn behind her 

 grand equerry. In France 

 we find mention of the 

 fii'st coaches for hire in 

 1550. Thus it a]> 

 ]")ears that \'ehirles 

 began to take the 

 place of equestrian- 

 ism in all countries at 

 about the same period, 

 — a period correspond- 

 ing to that of a reform 

 in the intellectual woi'ltl. 

 Chariots of war were known 

 to antiquity. When Julius 

 '"^^ ' "^i^_ '-^ Cxsai conquered Britain in 55 B.C., 

 he encountered Briton warriors 

 seated in formidable chariots armed 

 matters came to such a pass that the warrior with scythes fixed to the wheels. Even in Rome 

 princes found themselves forced to employ the use of vehicles was early known, but none 

 contractors who, for stipulated sums of money, but victors, vestal virgins, and certain author- 

 undertook to procure both men and horses, ities were allowed to use them, and they could 



The same condition of affairs 

 existed in Spain at nearly the same 

 epoch. The grandees, who formerly 

 mounted their horses to display their 

 prowess with the lance as they had 

 seen it practiced by the Moors, or to 

 fight wild bulls in the arena, now 

 began to imitate the prelates, who 

 were dragged about comfortably in 

 coaches drawn by mules. A Spanish 

 grandee complained of it thus: 

 " Formerly there were brigands who 

 comported themselves like knights 

 and great matadores ; the brigands 

 of the present day are beggars and 

 the matadores bunglers." 



Philip II, king of Spain, took this 

 matter to heart in 1562. He issued 

 decrees against the breeding of mules 

 and tried to encourage that of horses. 



Interior of a Rujinc; School 



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