Reasons humbly offered to the Consideration of Parliament, for the suppressing such of the Stage-Coaches and Caravans now traveling upon the Roads of England, as are unnecessary, and Regulating such as shall be thought fit to be continued.  
THese Coaches are one of the greatest Mischefs that of late years hath happened to the Kingdoms, 〈◇〉 those that are kept within forty or fifty miles of London, which is humbly ●onceived, are altogether unnecessary; for, 

1. They are Mischievous to the public.  
2. They are Destructive to Trade.  
3. They are Prejudicial to Lands.    
1. They are Mischievous to the public.  
First, By destroying the Breed of good Horses, the Strength of the Nation, and making Men careless of attaining to good Horsemanship, a thing so useful and commendable in a Gentleman.  
Secondly, By hindering the Breed of Watermen, who are the Nursery for Seamen, and they the Bulwark of the Kingdom.  
Thirdly, By lessening of his Majesties Revenues.  
For the first of these; Stage-Coaches prevent the breed of good Horses, destroy those that are bread, and effeminate his Majesties Subjects, who having used themselves to travail in them, have neither attained skill themselves, nor bread up their Children to good Horsemanship, whereby they are rendred-uncapable of serving their country on Horseback, if occasion should require and call for the same; for, hereby they become weary and listless when they ride a few Miles, and unwilling to get on Horseback; not able to endure Frost, Snow, or Rain, or to lodge in the Fields, and what reason, save only their using themselves so tenderly, and their riding in these Stage-Coaches, can be given for this their inability.  
What Encouragement hath any Man to breed Horses whilst these Coaches are continued? there is such a lazy habit of body upon Men, that they, to indulge themselves, save their fine clothes, and keep clean and dry, will ride lolling in one of them, and endure all the Inconveniences of that manner of traveling, rather than ride on Horseback: So that if any Man should continue his Breed, he ●ust be on● that is a ●reat lover of them; and resolve to keep and 〈…〉 own sancy with them; otherwise most certainly he( as most Breeders already have done) will give over his Breeding.  
There is not the fourth part of Saddle-Horses, either bread or kept now in England, that was before these Coaches were set up, and would be again if they were suppressed. Nor is there any occasion for breeding or keeping such Horses, whilst these Coaches are continued.  
For, will any Man keep a Horse for himself, and another for his Man, all the year, for to ride one or two Journeys, that at pleasure, when he hath occasion, can slip to any place where his business lies, for two, three, or four shillings, if within twenty miles of London, and so proportionably into any part of England. No, there is no Man, unless some Noble Soul, that scorns and abhors being confined to so ignoble, base, and sordid a way of traveling, as these Coaches oblige him unto, and who prefers a public Good before his own Ease and advantage, that will breed or keep such Horses. Neither are there near so many Coach-Horses either bread or kept in England now, as there were Saddle-Horses formerly, there being no occasion for them, the Kingdom being supplied with a far less number. For, formerly, every Man that had occasion to travail many Journeys yearly, or to ride up and down, kept Horses for himself and Servants, and seldom rid without one or two Men; But now since every Man can have a passage into every place he is to travail unto, or to some place within a few miles of that part he designs to go unto, They have left keeping of Horses, and travail without Servants; And York, Chester, and Exeter Stage-Coaches, each of them with forty Horses a piece, carry eighteen Passengers a week from London to either of these places, and in like manner as many in return from these places to London; which comes in the whole to 1872 in the year. Now take it for granted, That all that are carried from London to those places, are the same that are brought back, yet are there 936 Passengers carried by forty Horses; whereas were it not for these Coaches, at least 500 Horses would be required to perform this Work. Take the short Stages within twenty or thirty miles of London, each Coach with four Horses carries six Passengers a day, which are 36 in a week, 1872 a year; If these Coaches were suppressed, can any Man imagine these 1872. Passengers and their Servants could be carried by four Horses? Then reckon your Coaches within ten miles of London, that go backward and forward every day, and they carry double the number every year; and so proportionably your shorter Stages within three, four, or five miles of London.  
There are Stage-Coaches that go to almost every Town within 20 or 25 miles of London, wherein Passengers are carried, so that most persons in and about London, and in Middlesex, Essex, Kent and Surry, Gentlemen, Merchants, and other Traders that have occasion to ride, make use of them; some to keep Fairs and Markets; others to visit Friends, and to, and from their Countrey-houses, or about other business, who before these Oaches did set up, kept a Horse or two of their own, but now have give over keeping the same; so that by computation there are not so many, by in thousand Horses kept now in these Parts, as there were before Sta●e-Coaches set up: By which means breeding of good Pad-Nags is disouraged, and Coach-Horses that are bread, by the cruelty and ill usage o● Stagers, are destroyed.  
2ly, Those Coaches hinder the breeding of watermen, and much discourage those that are bread; for there being Stage-Coaches set up unto every little Town upon the River of Thames, on both sides the Water, from London as high as Windsor and Maidenhead, &c. And so from London-Bridg to and below Graves-end, and also to every little Town within a mile or two of the Water-side. These are they who carry all the Letters, little Bundles, and Passengers, which before they set up, were carried by Water, and kept watermen in a full Employ, and occasioned their increase( whereof there never was more need than now); And yet by these Coaches, they of all others are most discouraged and dejected, especially our Western and below-Bridg watermen; they having little or nothing to do, sometimes not a Fare in a weak; so that they dare not take Apprentices, the Work they have not answering the charge they are at in keeping themselves and Families. The consequence whereof is like to prove sad in a short time, unless speedily prevented, especially if we happen to lose so many yearly of those that are bread, as of late years we have done. But if these Coaches were down, watermen as formerly would have Work, and be encouraged to take Apprentices, whereby their number would every year greatly increase.  
3ly, It prejudiceth his Majesty in his Revenue of Excise: For now four or five travail in a Coach together, and twenty or thirty in a Caravan, Gentlemen and Ladies, without any Servants, consume little Drink on the Road, yet pay as much at every Inn, as if their Servants were with them, which is the Tapsters gain, and his Majesties loss: But if Travellers would, as formerly they did, travail on Horseback, then no persons of Quality would ride without their Servants: And it is they that occasion the Consumption of Beer and Ale on the Roads, and so would advance his Majesties Revenue. I know it will be Objected, There are as many People now as will be when Coaches are down, and they drink where ever they are; Therefore no matter whether they drink at Home or on the Road, since the Consumption will be the same; how can the Kings Revenue then be advanced by Se●●nts traveling with their Masters or Mistresses, more than it is already? The answer is plain; at home they drink small drink brewed by their Masters that pay no Excise, but whatever they drink at Inns, pays the Kings duties: and consumes treble the quantity of malt: And all Inn-keepers do declare, that they sell not half the drin●, no● pay the King half the Excise they did before these Coaches set up.  
2ly, These Coaches and Caravans are destructive to the Trade and ●anufactories of the Kingdom, have impoverished and ruined many th●usands of Famalies, whose subsistence depended upon the Manufacturing 〈…〉 wool and Leather, two of the Staple-Commodities of the Kingdom: For, before these Coaches were set up, Travellers road on Horseback, and men had Boots, Spurs, Saddles, Bridles, Saddle-clothes, and good riding Suits, Coats and Cloaks, Stockings and Hats; whereby the Wool and Leather of the Kingdom was consumed, and the poor people set at work by Carding, Combing, Spinning, Knitting, Weaving, Fulling: And your Cloth-Workers, Drapers, Taylors, Saddlers, Tanners, Curriers, shoemakers, Spurriers, Lorrayners, Felt-makers, had a good employ, were full of work, got money, lived handsomely, and helped with their Families to consume the Provisions and Manufactures of the Kingdoms: But by means of these Coaches, these Trades, besides many others depending upon them, are become almost useless; and they, with their Families, reduced to great necessity; insomuch, that many thousands of them are cast upon the Parishes wherein they dwell, for a Maintenance. Besides, it is a great hurt to the Girdlers, Sword-Cutlers, Gunsmiths and Trunk-makers; most Gentlemen, before they traveled in their Coaches, using to ride with Swords, Belts, Pistols, Holsters, Portmantues and Hat-cases, which in these Coaches they have little or no occasion for: For, when they road on Horseback, they road in one svit, carried another to wear when they came to their journeys end, or lay by the way: But in Coaches, a Silk-Suit, and an Indian Gown ▪ with a Sash, Silk-Stockings, Beaver-Hats, men ride in, and carry no other with them, because they escape the wet and dirt, which on Horseback they cannot avoid; whereas in two or three journeys on Horseback, these clothes and Hats were wont to be Spoiled: Which done, they were forced to have new very often; and that increased the Consumption of the Manufactures, and the employment of the Manufacturers, which traveling in Coaches doth no way do. And if they were women that traveled, they used to have Safeguards, and Hoods, Side-saddles and Pillions, with Strappins, Saddle or Pillion-cloths, which( for the most part) were either laced or embroidered; to the making of which, there went many several Trades, seeing there is not one Side-Saddle with the furniture made, but before it be furnished, there are at least thirty several Trades have a share in the making thereof, most of which are either destroyed, or greatly prejudiced by the Abatement of their Trade: Which being bread unto, and having served seven years apprenticeship to learn, they know not what other course to take for a Livelihood. And besides all these Inferior Fandy-Craftsmen, there are the Mercers, Silkmen, Lace-Men, Milliners, Lunen and Woollen-Drapers, Haberdashers, and divers other Eminent Trades, that receive great prejudice by this way of traveling: For the Mercers foll Silk and Stuff in great quantities for Safeguards, Hoods, and Riding Clothes for Women; by which means the Silk-Twisters, Winders, Throsters, Weavers and Dyers, had a fuller employment, the Silk-men sold more Lace and embroidery, which kept the Silver-Wyre-Drawers, Lace-makers and Imbroiderers. And at least ten Trades more were employed: The linen-draper fold more linen, not only to Sadlers to make up Saddles, but to Travellers for their own use, nothing wearing out linen more than riding. Woollen-Drapers sold more Cloth than now; Sadlers used before these Coaches were set up, to buy 3 or 4000 l. worth of Cloth apiece in a year, nay some Five hundred and a Thousand pounds worth, which they cut out into Saddles and Pillion-Cloths; though now there is no saddler can dispose of One hundred pounds worth of Cloth in a year in his Trade. The Milliners and Haberdashers, they also sold more Ribbons, Gloves, Hoods, scarves, and other things belonging to their Trade; the dust, dirt and rain, and riding on Horseback, spoiling and wearing them out, much more than traveling in a Coach: And on Horseback these things were apt to be lost than in a Coach.  
Trade is a great Mystery, and one Trade depends upon another: Were it not too tedious, I could show you how many several Trades there are that go to the making of every one of the things aforementioned, and demonstrate, that there is scarcely a Trade in England, but what is one way or other concerned and prejudiced by these Stage-Coaches, especially the Countrey-Trade all over England: For, passage to London being so easy, Gentlemen come to London oftener than they need, and their Ladies either with them, or having the conveniencies of these Coaches, quickly follow them. And when they are there, they must be in the Mode, have all the new Fashions, buy all their clothes there, and go to Plays, Balls and Treats, where they get such a habit of Jollity, and a love to gaiety and Pleasure, that nothing afterwards in the country will serve them, if ever they should fix their minds to live there again: But they must have all from London, whatever it costs.  
And there is one grand mischief happens to the country thereby; for Gentlemen drain the country of all the money they can get, bring it to London, and spend it there: Wheres if they stayed at home, bought their clothes and other Commodities, of their Neighbours, money would be kept circulating amongst them; and Chapmen that have served apprenticeships, and set up near them, would have a good Trade, pay their Rents, and live handsomely, the Trade betwixt them and the City of London would be renewed, country Ladies would be as well pleased( providing they be kept from London) as if they had all the rich Clothes, Modes and Fashions, vainly and extravagantly invented and worn in the City, as soon as they have them there; and Gentlemen would not only save the Money they spend in Journeys to buy clothes, but have as good as need to be worn in the country, at easier rates than they must pay at London, if they buy when the Fashion comes first up.  
3ly, These Coaches and Caravans, hinders the Consumption of all sort of Provisions for Man and Beast, thereby bringing down the Rents of Lands. For instance, a Coach with four Horses carries six Passengers, a Caravan with four or five Horses, carries twenty or five and twenty: These, when they come to their Inn, club together for a Dish or two of Meat, and having no Servants with them, spend not above twelve pence, or sixteen pence a piece at a place; yet perhaps foul four, five, or six pair of sheets. Horses they have none, but what draw them; and for those, the Coach-men agree with the Innkeeper beforehand, to have their Hay and Oats at so low a Rate, that he loseth by them, and is forced to beat down the price of them in the Market, yet must let the Coachman have them for what he pleaseth; otherwise he carries his Passengers to other Inns: by which means the Inholders get little or nothing, cannot pay their Rent, nor hold their Inns, without great Abatements; Two third parts of what they formerly paid, is in some places abated. Upon such accounts as these, Inholders where these Coaches do come, are undone: And if so, since most Travellers travail in Coaches, what must become of all the rest of the Inns on the Roads where these Coaches stay not? Believe it, they are a considerable number, take all the grand Roads in England, as, York, Exeter, Chester, &c. There are about 500 Inns on each Road, and these Coaches do not call at fifteen or fixteen of them; then what can follow, but that the rest be undone, and their Landlords lose their Rents?  
But were these Coaches and Caravans down, and traveling on Horseback again come into fashion, first, every Passenger that now travels in Coach, would have one Horse at least; many of them, one, two or three Servants with them, who now ride sneaking without any Attendants at all; whereby in all probability, according to moderate Computation, there would be at least forty or fifty Horses upon the Road, instead of nine or ten that draw the Coach and Caravan.  
2ly, These Travellers would disperse themselves into the several Inns upon the Road, each man where he could find the best Entertainment: whereby Trade would be diffused, Inholders be enabled to pay their Rents, and encouraged to provide accommodations fit for the reception of Gentlemen.  
3. Most Horses go to grass in the Summer time, which would raise the Rents of Pasture-Lands about Cities and Corporations, and other Towns upon the Roads, above what formerly they were; which of late years, by means of those Coaches, have fallen half in half, even in Middlesex, and other places adjoining to London itself: And no other, reason for it can be given but this, That Citizens and Gentlemen about the City, do not keep Horses as formerly they did: Neither doth there now come a sixth part of the Horses to London that used to do; but if Stage-Coaches be suppressed, there will be a necessity for men to apply themselves to the breeding, keeping and using Horses as formerly they did; and it will necessary occasion the Consumption of five times the quantity of Hay, Straw and Horse-Corn that now is consumed; whereby Farmers will have a vent for their Commodities, and be enabled to pay their Rents; for, not only will there then be four times the number of Horses traveling upon the Roads that there are now, but in the City of London, and all the great Towns in England, there would be great numbers of good Horses kept by Gentlemen, Merchants and tradesman for their own uses; and by others also, to let out to hire to such as shall have occasion to ride, and keep not Horses of their own.  
It is very observable, that before these Coaches were set up, what with the Horses kept by Merchants, and other tradesman and Gentlemen in or near London, and the Travellers Horses that came to London, That City spent all the Hay, Straw, Beans, Pease and Oats, that could be spared within twenty or thirty miles thereof; And for a further supply, had vast quantities from Henly, and other Western parts, and from below Graves-end by Water; besides many Ships-Lading of Beans from Hull, and of Oats from Lynn and Boston; and then Oats, and Hay, and other Horse-Meat, would bear a good price in that Market, which was the Standard for all the Markets in England; But now, since these Coaches ser up, especially in such multitudes, and those so nigh London, London cannot consume what grows within twenty miles of it. But if they were down, the Consumption in London would quickly be as great as ever, and that would raise the price of the Commodities, advance the price of Lands, and cause Rents to be well paid again; And not only would every Traveller that now rides in a Coach, travail on Horseback, if Coaches were down, and some of them with two or three Servants, and so occasion a greater Consumption of the Provision for cattle; But further every of these several Travellers, who before clubbed together for a Dish or two of Meat would have one, two, or three Dishes of Meat for himself and his Servants; which would occasion the Consumption of six times as much Beef, Veal, Mutton, Lamb, and all sorts of Fish, Fowl, poultry, and other Provisions, as is now consumed on the Roads: And such Consumption would raise the price of Lands, and cause better payment of Rents; especially if it be considered, That not only will the Consumption be increased by those that travail the Roads; but ten-times more would be spent by those who would be employed in the making those things that Travellers must have when they ride; who, if they have work, and can earn Money, will Eat and Drink. of the best, as formerly they did, when several Handicraft tradesman in London kept 20, 30, or 40 Journeymen at work, spent a quarter of Beef, and a carcase of Mutton in a week in their Houses; who since these Coaches set up, have fallen to a couple of Apprentices; and though as eminent of their Trade as any about London, yet can hardly earn Bread to put into their heads. If it be so then, that Running Stage-Coaches and Caravans are so injurious to the public, destructive to Trade, and the occasion of the fall of Rents, it would be worth our time to consider what is in them worthy of their being countenanced and desired; And whether the Inconveniences be not much greater than the Conveniences men receive by them. If this way of traveling were the way that of all ways appeared most beneficial, least expensive, conducing to Health, advantageous to Men in their business, absolutely necessary to some, useful to others, and imposed upon none; There were some Reason for mens being in love with them; but if the contrary be apparent, then what madness possesseth Men to court their Inconveniences and Mischiefs? Let us examine these things.  
First, Men receive not the greatest benefit by traveling in these Coaches; For can that way be beneficial to any that hinders and destroys Trade, prevents the Consumption of the Provisions and Manufacturies of the Kingdom, and thereby lours the Rents of Landlords?  
For First; Can a Gentleman receive benefit or advantage by saving 5 l. per Annum in a Journey, when by this manner of traveling he lours his own Rents three times as much in a year as he saves by his Journeys, by countenancing that kind of conveyance that hinders the Consumption of the products of his own Estate, and thereby makes his Tenants unable to pay their Rents?  
2ly, Is it to be believed, That a Tradesman arrives at any profit by these Coaches, though he would save a little money when he rides in them, that he must necessary expend if he travels on Horseback? No, for this manner of traveling hinders the Sale of those Commodities they deal in; of which much more would be consumed than is, if such Coaches were down, and by the Sale whereof they would get much more than they save by consining themselves to traveling as aforesaid; so that plainly it is their Interest to promote that way of traveling, that tends to the greatest Consumption of the Manufacturies or Commodities wherein they deal.  
3ly, The Husbandmen, who live by the sweat of their Brows, in manuring the Estates of the Gentry, they are undone by their Carriage; for it hinders their selling their Corn, Hay, and Straw, and other the products of their Farms, and brings down the price of what they sell, thereby rendering them unable to pay their Rents, or to hold their Farms without considerable abatements: which if not given them, their Lands are thrown up into the Landlords hands, and little or no benefit made by them.  
4ly, The graziers they complain for want of a Vent for their cattle, which they had before these Coaches were erected; Not that I do imagine Coaches to be the only reason of the want of that Consumption, though it be evident they go far in the promoting that mischief; for the want of People in England, the loss of many thousands from amongst us of late years, and the leaving off eating of Suppers by those that are left alive, go a great way therein. But these two may be easily remedied; The former by A General Act of naturalisation, which would bring all Foreigners in amongst us; The latter, by mens spending less in Taverns, Plays, and Balls, and keeping up in lieu thereof the ancient laudable customs of England, of good House-keeping, and thereby relieving the Poor. Half the Money that Gentlemen idly spend in Taverns upon French Wines, for which the Coin of the Kingdom is exhausted, or upon Plays, Balls, treating Mistresses, fine clothes, toys from France, or other Foreign parts, would defray the charges of having good Suppers every night; whereby the product of our own Lands would be consumed, and that would raise Rents: Nay, I am verily persuaded, if it were duly considered, and that all men, as formerly, would fall to eating of Suppers, at least to dressing of them; and when dressed, if they eat not themselves, would give them to the Poor, the increase of the Consumption would raise the Rents of Lands, as much above what now they do go at( at least in most places of England) as would defray the charges of those Suppers; If so, would it not then be of great advantage to men in their Estates, and to the Kingdom in general?  
But to proceed; If the Gentlemen, the tradesman, the Husbandmen, the grazier, be not benefited by this traveling, I am sure the last sort of Travellers; To wit,  
The Poor, they cannot be profited thereby; For wagons, or the long Coaches first invented, and still in use, would be most for their Interest to travail in, being far less expensive than the other; so that these Running Coaches are not most beneficial to every sort of Travellers.  
Secondly, Men do not travail in these Coaches with less expense of Money or Time than on Horseback; For, on Horseback they may travail faster; and if they please( all things duly considered) with as little, if not less charges.  
For instance, From London to Exeter, Chester, or York, you pay 40, now they pay 50 shillings apiece in Summer-time, 45 shillings in Winter for your Passage; and as much from those places back to London: besides, in the Journey they change Coachmen four times, and there are few Passengers but gives 12 pence to each Coachman at the end of his Stage, which comes to 8 shillings in the Journey backward and forward, and at least 3 shillings comes to each Passengers share to pay for the Coachmens Drink on the Road; so that in Summer-time the Passage backward and forward to any of these places, costs 4 l. 11 s. in the Winter 5 l. 1 s. and this only for eight days riding in the Summer, and 12 in the Winter. Then when the Passengers come to London, they must have Lodgings, which perhaps may cost them five or six shillings a week, and that in fourteen days amounts unto 10 or 12 s. which makes the 4 l. 11 s. either 5 l. 1 s. or 5 l. 3 s. or the 5 l. 1 s. 5 l. 11 s. or 5 l. 13 s. besides the inconveniency of having Meat from the Cooks, at double the price they might have it for in Inns. But if Stage-Coaches were down, and men traveled again as formerly on Horseback, then when they came into their Inns they would pay nothing for Lodgings; and as there would excellent Horses be bread and kept for Gentlemen for their own use, so would there be by others that would keep them on purpose to let; which would, as formerly, be Let at 10 or 12 s. per week, and in many places for 6, 8, or 9 s. per week: but admitting the lowest price to be 12 s. If a Man comes from York, Exeter, or Chester, to London, be five days a-coming, five days going, and stay twelve days in London to dispatch his business,( which is the most that Countrey-Chapmen usually do stay) all this would be but three weeks; so that his Horse-hire would come but to 1 l. 16 s. his Horse-meat at 1 s. 2 d. a day,( one with another) which is the highest that can be reckoned upon, will come but to 1 l. 5 s. in all 3 l. 1 s. so that there would be at least 40 or 50 s. saved of what the Coach-hire and Lodgings will cost him; which would go a great way in paying for Riding-Cloaths, Stockings, Hats, Boots, Spurs, and other Accoutrements for Riding; and in my poor opinion, would be far better spent in the buying of these things, by the making whereof the poor would be set at work, and kept from being burdensome to the Parish, than to give it to those Stage-Coachmen, to indulge that lazy, idle, habit of Body, that men, by constant riding in these Coaches, have brought upon themselves: Besides, if thus their Money were spent, they would save a great deal, which now( if Men of any Estates) they pay for relief of those poor, who, for want of the work they had before those Coaches were set up, and might have again if they were put down, are fallen upon the several Parishes wherein they live, for maintenance: which charge would be quickly taken off if they were restored to their work. Thus in proportion may a Man save from all longer or shorter Stages. For instance, from Northampton men pay for passage in Coach to London 16 s. and so much back; from Bristol 25 s. from Bath 20 s. from Salisoury, 20 or 25 s. from Bedding 7 s. the like sums back, and so in proportion for longer or shorter Stages. Judge then, whether men may not hire Horses cheaper than 5 s. a day; I am sure they may for half the money, especially if Coaches were down, that men might receive encouragement; for, then there would be, as formerly, in all great Cities and Towns of England, good and sufficient numbers of able Horses kept to let, and such a correspondency would be between all the places, that a Man in any Town shall have a horse to ride to what place he pleaseth, and liberty to leave him when he comes to his Journeys end, without farther charge, till he have dispatched his business: which done, he may at the same place hire one to carry him back and be gone, without waiting a week or ten days after his Affairs are ended at vast charges, merely for a passage in a Coach; as many of these Gentlemen are forced to do, who pretend it a point of good Husbandry to travail in them, which hazard they run, and often find the smart of it: yet never consider or account the charge thereof, if they did, they would easily perceive, that traveling in Coaches is not the way of traveling with least expense.  
Thirdly, traveling in these Coaches can neither prove advantageous to mens Health or Business: For, what advantage is it to Man's Health, to be called out of their Beds into these Coaches, an hour before day in the morning to be hurried in them from place to place till one hour, two, or three within night; insomuch that after fitting all day in the Summertime stisted with heat, and choked with the dust; or the Winter-time starving and freezing with could, or choked with filthy Fogs, they are often brought into their Inns by Torch-light, when it is too late to sit up to get a Supper; and next morning they are forced into the Coach so early, that they can get no Breakfast. What addition is this to mens Health or Business, to ride all day with strangers, oftentimes sick, ancient, diseased persons, or young Children crying; to whose humours they are obliged to be subject, forced to bear with, and many times are poisoned with their nasty Scents and crippled by the crowd of their Boxes and Bu●… dles.  
Is it for a man's Health to travail with tired Jades, to be laid fast in th●… foul Ways, and forced to wade up to the knees in mire; afterwards sit is the could, till Teams of Horses can be sent to pull the Coach out? Is it for their health to travail in rotten Coaches, and to have their Tackle, or perch, or axle-tree broken, and then to wait three or four hours, sometimes half a day to have them mended again, and then to travail all night to make good their Stage? Is it for Mans pleasure or advantageous to their Healths and Business, to travail with a mixed Company that he knows not how to converse with; to be affronted by the rudeness of a surly, dogged, cursing, ill-natured Coachman, necessitated to lodge or Bait at the worst Inns on the Road, where there is no accommodation fit for Gentlemen; and this merely because the Owners of the Inns, and the Coachmen are agreed together to cheat the Guests?  
Is it for the advantage of Business, That a Man, when he sets out a Journey, must come just at their hour, or be left behind: so that often he is sorced, when one hours staying would finish his Business, to go out of Town, leave it undone, and make a new Journey about it? Is it for advantage of a Man's Business, that though he have a Concern of great weight or moment to transact upon the Road as he goes along, yet if it lye but a stones-cast out of the Coach-way, the Coachman will not drive thither, nor stay for him at any place, except the Baiting or Lodgingplaces where he calls, where they change Horses; and there stay no longer than he pleases neither? To be forced, whatever accident of sickness or illness happens, to ride these Coachmens Stages, though never so late in the night, or else to be left in the middle of a Journey in a strange place? Is this for the conveniency or advantage of a Man's Health or Business? rather the quiter contrary: Yet this hath been many Persons of good Qualities case, that although they have offered to pay the whole Coachhire, all the Passengers charges, to have put into an Inn( late at night on this side the set-Stage) yet have they been denied, forced to ride, though in peril of their lives, till midnight: And it is not hard to instance in many that have lost their lives by such usage.  
All which Inconveniencies, if Stage-Coaches were suppressed, would be remedied, lazy humours be discountenanced; and a great conveniency indeed it would be, both to Travellers, and the country through which they ride, for Men and Women to travail on Horseback again.  
For then they may, when their business is done at one place, presently take Horse and go to another, without loss of time, or staying for a passage in a Coach, set out as early in the morning, and take up as soon in the evening, and bait as long, and as often by the way, and in what places they please, make choice of their Company on the Road, avoid such as svit not with their tempers, go out of the Roads when, and travail as long or short Journeys as they please, keep out of could, Wet, or fogs, and take into Inns when the weather is not fit to travail, and so preserve their Healths. And by this means great advantages would happen, for then all Towns, and every Inn, would have something to do, Trade would be more diffused, many poor Families in the country would be maintained, that now are in a starving condition; Travellers would come into their Inns before Candlelight, stay in the morning till Shops open, understand the Trade of the place they are in, lay out moneys in buying things they find fit for their use, and which are of the Manufactures of the Town where they come; in some places, Silk or Worsted-Hose; in others, Lace, Gloves, Stuffs, Boots, or Shoes, linen Cloth, and other things, which would be great Relief and encouragement to the Manufacturers of those Commodities, as well as to those that buy them, and bring money to those places where they are made.  
4ly. These Coaches are not absolutely necessary to any persons whatever; for sick or aged people, or young children, if they have occasion to travail, may ride in the long Waggon-Coaches, which were those that first were set up, and are not now opposed, because they do little or no hurt; if prohibited within 40 miles of London: For, Gentlemen that are able to ride on Horseback, keep Coaches of their own, or to hire a Coach, will not appear so sordid as to travail in them. And truly, if they be poor people that are to travail, it is not fit they should be encouraged in their pride or in their extravagancy, or suffered to ride amongst Gentlemen, or like persons of Honour in a Coach, with four or six horses; and for sick and aged People, and young children, these long Coaches are more convenient for them than running Coaches, if they were to be continued up; for, they travail not such long journeys, go not out so early in the morning, neither come they in so late at night; but stay by the way, travail easily, without jolting mens bodies, or hurrying them along, as the running Coaches do.  
5ly. Neither are these running Coaches useful to any, for, those that are fit to ride, or ought to be suffered to ride in them, are such, that if they have business requiring a Coach, may either keep one themselves or hire one.  
6ly. But though these Coaches are neither absolutely necessary to some, nor useful to others, yet they are imposed upon many; for, since they set up in such multitudes, especially about London, men careless of keeping horses, knowing the certainty of passage in them, have sold them, and must therefore ●●en they travail, either ride in these Coaches, or not at all, there b●ing ●ew or no Horses kept now to let out to hire.  
I● by what hath been said upon this point, it happen Gentlemen may travail on Horseback, more to the advantage and benefit of Trade, and so to the public good, with more advantage to their healths and business, and less expense of money and time than they can in Stage-Coaches.  
If these Stage-Coaches be not absolutely necessary to some, useful( to what other Coaches may be made) to others, and yet imposed upon many, what reason can be given why they should not all or most of them be suppressed?  
If they were not destructive to Trade, why should Petitions from almost all sorts of tradesman, come up from most Cities and Towns in England against them, as there hath been lately presented to His Majesty and the Council? Why should the Justices of Peace at their General Quarter-Sessions, certify to His Majesty and his honourable Privy Council, under their hands( as they have done) that the great Mischiefs aforementioned, under which the Kingdom now suffers, have been greatly occasioned by these Coaches, and that many thousands of Families are ruined by them, as from London, Westminster, Salisbury, Middlesex, and divers other Cities, Countries and Towns, Certificates have come? Why should the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London, at their Court at Guildhall, upon serious consideration and debate of the Petition of the several Companies of London, against the said Coaches, wherein most of these grievances are mentioned, allow of the same, and give leave that it should be presented, if they were not convinced, that they are destructive to Trade? For surely they understand Trade, and were not so weak as to be cheated into their consent and approbation( neither have they any time since repented of, or disowned the same) as the Stage-Coachmen in false and scandalous Pamphlets have presumed to print; notwithstanding which, they are ready to own the said Petition, and make good the Contents thereof: And the Drapers, Haberdashers and Milliners,( who, they pretend, would be prejudicied by their being superseded) are ready, with the other tradesman mentioned in that Pamphlet, to evince to the World, they are injured by their being kept up; so that the very Coach and Harness-Makers themselves petition against them, as being mischievous to their Trades, in regard they prevent the making of great Numbers of Coaches every year; which must have been made, if Gentlemen had tra●elled in their own Coaches, and thereby they hinder the Consumption of ●reat Quantities of Leather.  
If all these things be true, what can be said against their being suppressed?  
It is objected, The Owners of these Coaches set them up for the conveniency of the Subjects; have betaken themselves to this painful way of living, and laid out their whole Stocks, merely to accommodate Gentlemen, and have now no other way to live, what shall become of them, if they be put down?  
Ans. It is the case but of very few, that the suppressing of them would hurt: for, if all Stage-Coaches were to be suppressed, I dare say five for one of those that keep them would receive advantage thereby, as clearly will be evinced, if it be considered, that when this business was before His Majesty in Council, where it depends undetermined, none of the Stagers opposed the being put down, except Exeter, Salisbury, Dorchester, Bristol, Southampton, Dover, Norwich, Lincoln, York, Westchester, Worcester and Shrewsbury, who call themselves Stage-Coachmen upon the grand Roads of England; and there is not one Owner of any of these Coaches, but hath other ways to live, if he were prohibited driving them; for, they are all of them either Innholders, or Coach or Harness-makers, following those Trades, or Carriers, or licenced Coachmen in London; and may live as well as the Hackney Coachmen in London. The other Stage-Coaches, are all or most of them kept either by Innholders first, who( one in a Town) did set up a Coach, and so carried all the Guests to his own house. Then a second sets up another, and so a third and fourth in a Town: Which done, they run one against another, purposely to get the Guests from each others houses; whereby they not only destroy multitudes of Horses, but are great losers themselves; so that themselves would be thankful to have them put down, and yet are forced to keep them up, until there shall be a general suppression, because otherwise they shall lose their own Trades. Or else the said Stage-Coaches are kept by such, as before the late Act for reducing the number of Hackney-Coaches in London to 400, were Owners of Coaches, and driven Hackney there: But when the number of 400 was full, and they not licenced, then to avoid the penalties of the Act, they removed out of the City, dispersing themselves into every little Town, within twenty miles of London, where they set up for Stagers, and drive every Day to London, and in the Night-time they drive about the City, pay no 5 l. per annum, yet take away both the Town and Countrey-work from those that do pay it, and break and annoy the streets in the Cities and Suburbs thereof, hinder the 400 from the Jobs and small Journeys they depended upon, when they agreed to pay 5 l. a piece per annum for their Licenses; whereby they are many of them ruined. But take it for granted it were so, that these Stage-Coachmen had laid out all their Stocks for the use aforesaid, and must be undone if put down, and there were at least 2000 of them, what is that?( of two evils the lesser is to be chosen.) Have they not already destroyed very many Thousands of Families? will not the continuing of them, in very short time, be the undoing of many Thousands more? is the interest of these surly, rude, debauched Coachmen, to be put into the balance with the many Thousands of Curriers, Shoemakers, Sadlers, Girdlers, Spurriers, Cutlers, Lorainers, Cloathiers, Cloath-workers, Cloath-drawers, Drapers, Taylors, and an hundred Trades more, to which men were bound seven years apprenticeship to learn their Trades, and are of great advantage to the public? Surely, they ought to be encouraged, being the Manufacturers of the Staple-Commodities of the Kingdom: by the manufacturing whereof, great profit doth arise to the public: Yet of these, if occasion require, it will be made appear, above 100000, with their Families, are in great measure ruined by them. And I pray you, who are advantaged thereby? what persons are employed or set at work by them, save only a few Servant-Coachmen, Postilions and Hostlers? whom they pretend they breed up and make fit for the service of the Nobility and Gentry of the Land; a most incomparable School to train men up in! and to fit them for the the Gallows, more likely than to live in sober Families: but in the mean time, while these are breeding up, the Price and Rents of Lands are so brought down by hindrance these Coaches do make of the Consumption of Provisions and Manufactures, that in a short time few Gentlemen will be in a capacity to keep Coaches; so that if all Running Stage-Coaches and Caravans were suppressed, it would do well. But if some few Coaches were continued,( to wit) one to every Shire-town in England, to go once a week backward and forward and to go through with the same Horses they set forth with, and not travail above 30 miles a day in the ●ummer, and 25 miles in the Winter, and to shift Inns every Journey, that so Trade might be diffused; these would be sufficient to carry the Sick and the Lame, that they pretend cannot travail on Horseback; and being thus regulated, they would do little or no harm; especially if all be suppressed within 40 or 50 miles of London, where they are no way necessary, and yet so highly destructive. All which is Humbly submitted to judgement.