Class I. HORSE. 9 



The increase of our inhabitants, and the ex- 

 tent of our manufactures, together with the 

 former neglect of internal navigation to convey 

 those manufactures, multiplied the number of 

 our horses: an excess of wealth, before un- 

 known in these islands, increased the luxury of 

 carriages, and added to the necessity of an ex- 

 traordinary culture of these animals : their high 

 reputation abroad, has also made them a branch 

 of commerce, and proved another cause of their 

 vast increase. 



As no kingdom can boast of parallel circum- 

 stances, so none can vie with us in the number 

 of these noble quadrupeds ; it would be ex- 

 tremely difficult to guess at the exact amount of 

 them, or to form a periodical account of their 

 increase : the number seems very fluctuating : ~ 

 William Fitz-Stephen relates, that in the reign 

 of King Stephen, London alone poured out 

 20,000 horsemen in the wars of those times: 

 yet we find that in the beginning of Queen 

 Elizabeth's reign,* the whole kingdom could not 

 supply 2000 horses to form our cavalry: and 

 even in the year 1588, when the nation was in 

 the most imminent danger from the Spanish 



* Vide Sir Edward Harwood's memorial. Harleian Misc. 

 iv. 255. The number mentioned by Fitz-Slephen is probably 

 erroneous, and ought to be read 2000. 



