H OR © E. Crass I. 
of our manufactures, together with the former 
neglect of internal navigation to convey thofe ma- 
nufactures, multiplied the number of our horfes: 
an excels of wealth, before unknown in_thefe 
iflands, increafed the luxury of carriages, and 
added to the neceffity of an extraordinary culture 
of thefe animais: their high reputation abroad, 
has alfo nade them a branch of commerce, and 
proved another caufe of their vaft increafe. 
As no kingdom can boaft of parallel circum- 
ftances, fo none can vie with us in the number -of 
thefe noble quadrupeds; it would be extremely 
dificult to guefs at the exact amount of them, or 
to form a periodical account of their increafe: the 
number feems very fluctuating: Wailiam Fitz- 
Stephen relates, that in the reign of King Stephen, 
London alone poured out 20,000 horfemen in the 
wars of thofe times: yet we find that in the begin- 
ning of Queen Elizabeth's reign*, the whole king- 
dom could not fupply 2000 horfes to form our 
cavalry ; and even in the year 1588, when the na- 
tion was in the moft imminent danger from the 
Spanifh invafion, all the cavalry which the nation 
could then furnifh amounted only to 3000: to ac- 
count for this difference we muft imagine, that 
the number of horfes which took the field in Ste- 
phen’s reign was no more than an undifciplined 
* Vide Sir Edward Harwood’s memorial. Harletan Mie. 
iv. 255. The number mentioned by Fitz-Stephens is pro- 
bably erroneous, and ought to be read 2000. 
rabble ; 
