THE
HISTORY OF COACHES.

THE

HISTORY OF COACHES

BY
G. A. T H R U P P.

“O, then, I see Queen Mab has been with you,
Drawn with a team of little atomies,
Her Waggon spokes made of long spinners’ legs;
Her Chariot is an empty hazel-nut,
Made by the joiner squirrel, or old grub,
Time out o’ mind the Fairies’ Coachmakers.”
Romeo and Juliet, Act I. Scene 4

WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS.
LONDON:
KERBY & ENDEAN, 190 OXFORD STREET.
NEW YORK: THE “HUB” PUBLISHING COMPANY.
1877.
LONDON:
KERBY & ENDEAN, 190 OXFORD STREET,
Printers and Publishers.

PREFACE.

“Chi va piano, va sano.”[1]
Italian Proverb.

IN the spring of 1876 I was requested by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce to prepare a series of Lectures upon Coachbuilding.

I chose as my subject the History of that Art, as likely to be more interesting than a merely technical description of the method of constructing vehicles.

I was desirous of enlisting the sympathies of the Public in general in an Art so important to the requirements of the age, as well as of calling the attention of the artisans of our trade to the principles which govern the construction of Carriages.

I need hardly add that I received from the Society of Arts all the assistance in its power towards composing the substance of the Lectures, and also in the preparation of the numerous diagrams by which they were illustrated; they further aided in procuring a very large attendance of artisans, employers, and others interested in Coachbuilding, at the time of my delivering the lectures in November and December last, in their great room at John Street, Adelphi.

It is deemed desirable that these Lectures should be re-issued in their present form.

I found it very difficult to arrive at the shape of the vehicles used by our forefathers on account of the absence of any connected history, and also from the very vague descriptions contained in books on the subject, but which were not always written for technical purposes.

It was not therefore without considerable search in books and examination of paintings and old engravings, that I could at all ascertain the shapes of the earlier Coaches, and of course both my time and opportunities were limited to a few months.

I have little doubt that there remain rich mines of information unsearched by me, because unknown. I shall, however, be glad to receive any information that will enlarge our present knowledge.

There may be yet in England, or abroad, some ancient Carriages which deserve to be described and photographed before they perish; for Carriages are too bulky to be preserved in any quantity in national museums.

Scarce books and prints, too, may exist in many libraries, and a list might be made of them; and a record is desirable also of those students of the Art of Coachbuilding who made their mark in the world and have passed away.

Any communication will be thankfully received and kept in an accessible place, to assist any future writer who may have the time to prepare a more complete record than I of the History of Coachbuilding.

G. A. THRUPP.

269 Oxford Street,
April, 1877.

CONTENTS.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

The History of the Art of Coachbuilding.
CHAPTER I.

Early Vehicles—Sledges—Solid Wheels—Egyptian Chariots—Early Vehicles Always had Two Horses—King Solomon’s Wedding Chariot—An Egyptian Mummy Wheel—Grecian Chariots—Vehicles of Ancient Rome—Scythian and Persian Cars—Funeral Car of Alexander the Great—War Chariot of Ancient Britain—Roman Military Roads—Wheels Found at Pompeii—Later Vehicles of the Roman Empire—Ancient Roman Dray—Carriages of Hindostan—A Carriage of Ancient Hungary—Turkish Carriages—Welsh and Irish Cars—Bristol Coburg.

THE progress of the art of Coachbuilding, like the progress of most inventions and discoveries, has been slow. In certain ages it has seemed to make a sudden start, then again to remain almost stationary for a long time.

It is only during the last two centuries that coachmaking has been in a satisfactory condition as an art, and it has arrived at comparative perfection only during the present century. The same, however, may be said of other inventions:—Pendulum clocks were invented about 1260; paper was made from old rags about 1250; gunpowder dates from the year 1330; printing, that valuable aid to the arts, 1430; watches are said to have been first made in England about the year 1500; and the first coach was seen in England in the year 1555, three hundred and twenty years ago.

The history of coaches and carriages is not as extensive as the human race, nor can it be traced among all those nations that have arrived at an advanced stage of civilisation. Ancient America, especially the civilised Mexico, tells us nothing; from China and Japan we gain next to nothing; and only a strip of North Africa contributes to the history of wheels. Europe, Asia Minor, Hindostan, and Tartary furnish nearly all the information we can glean.

The history of the art of Coachmaking must be divided into several marked epochs. The first terminates with the change of government at Rome from the rule by Consuls to the rule by Emperors, about 2000 years ago. Up to this time there had been little variation in the vehicles chiefly used. The second epoch terminates with the overturning of the Roman empire, about 1500 years ago; during that epoch, which was one marked by the display of great wealth, and the indulgence of most luxurious living, several new and larger vehicles were introduced, and many were decorated in a costly manner.

The third epoch commences with the introduction of vehicles slung upon leather straps, and may be considered to end about the year 1700, when the use of steel springs began to be understood.

The fourth epoch will end in 1790, when coaches began to assume their present form, size, and style.

And the last epoch must commence with the introduction of carriages hung wholly on elliptic springs, about 1805, by Mr Obadiah Elliott. This last and surprising change has been productive of very important results to all interested in the use of carriages or in Coachbuilding.

By the introduction of elliptic springs the construction of wheeled vehicles has been rendered less costly, their weight has been materially reduced, and many complicated parts have been abandoned. Simultaneously the number of vehicles has been multiplied, and their comfort and accommodation have been increased.

We may fairly suppose the first means of locomotion entitled to the name of a carriage to have been a sledge. It would be so natural to place a burden, too heavy for the shoulders, on some slight framework, and drag it over the ground. A very little experience would enable a man to judge of the best form for a sledge; and, in point of fact, the first sledge of which we find any record, on a sculpture of the Temple of Luxor, at Thebes, in Egypt, is precisely similar to that used by brewers’ draymen in London. It has two long runners slightly turned upwards in front, and half-a-dozen cross pieces to unite the runners and bear the burden.

Sledges of many shapes and fashions are in use during the winter in most countries where snow lies for any length of time upon the ground, as sledges glide more easily over its surface than do wheels. The Esquimaux and the Laplanders habitually use sledges, all more raised from the ground than the sledge that carries the casks of the brewers. The Swiss and other inhabitants of mountain districts use sledges to bring down hewn timber and faggots to the valleys; and a hundred years ago, when carts were not so numerous, it was common in England to load the new-made hay or sheaves of wheat on light high sledges for transport to the farm yard. In North America and Northern Europe, sledges of elegant shape are every year in use; and in Holland and Belgium, during some winters, not only do the gentry ride in sledges two or three months, but the meat, bread, and vegetables are run through the streets daily on hand sledges.

Egypt is the chief of the countries of which we have any record of the arts and manufactures introduced by the progress of civilisation. Egypt had, at an early period, buildings composed of very large stones; in moving these the sledge and the roller were used; and it is natural that these should be combined to form a low truck or platform moving on rollers. Later on, wheels and axles were substituted for rollers; at first wheels were slices of the trunk of a tree, all solid pieces of wood, and firmly wedged to the axles. Thus the wheels and axle revolved together below the cart or truck, and were retained in their position by strong wooden pins like the thole-pins or rowlocks of a boat. The wheels and axle revolve together in tramway cars and in railway carriages. Carts are made in this way now in Portugal, Spain, and in South America. All the earlier carts seem to have been fitted only with a pole, and at least two animals seem always to have been yoked together to the vehicle. The objection to the wheels and axle in one piece is, that it is difficult to turn a vehicle thus fitted in a small space. Any one using a garden-roller round a corner may easily convince himself of this, for whilst the outer edge of the roller is going over the necessary sweep, the inner edge is sliding on and crushing the gravel walk; it should be moving independently. It was soon discovered in Egypt that it was better to have a fixed axle-tree, and allow the wheels to revolve independently of one another.

A wheeled carriage appears to have been in very general use in Egypt at an early period, called a car or chariot: in the Bible it is usually translated “chariot.” There are paintings and sculptures upon the walls of the temples and tombs of Egypt which have lasted four thousand years, and from those we learn precisely the appearance of these chariots. They are of great interest to us, as they formed the chief means of conveying man for two thousand years before Christ, and were more or less the type of all other vehicles of the ancient world.

We find certain words used in describing them, both by Homer, who lived a thousand years before Christ, and by Moses, who lived at least five hundred years earlier, and that the words are technical terms, such as axles, wheels, naves, felloes, tyres, spokes, &c. Now technical terms imply that the art that had such terms must have existed prior to the writer who speaks of the art, so that, if we hesitated as to the date of the chariots sculptured and painted on the walls of the Egyptian temples, we are reassured by the terms used by the authors we name. Moses, in the description of the wheels upon which moved the great cauldron used by the priest, and Homer, in describing the car of the goddess Juno, used the same terms. We read in the fifth book of the Iliad, “The awful Juno led out the golden-bitted horses, whilst Hebe fitted the whirling wheels on the iron axles of the swift chariot. The wheels had each eight brazen spokes, the felloes were of gold secured with brazen tyres all round, admirable to the sight. The seat was of gold, hung by silver cords; the beam (or pole) was of silver, at the end of which was hung the golden yoke and the golden reins.”

These cars [[Plate 1], [ Figure 1]] were occasionally square, but more generally semicircular or horse-shoe shaped; the rounded front towards the horses was high, the sides lower, the back was open, and the bottom was near the ground, so that it was easy to step in and out. The wheels, especially in Egypt, were very low, from 2 ft. 6 in. to 3 ft. 3 in. in height. The framework of the body was often open, but sometimes closed up with leather skins or basket-work, and occasionally with carved wood or embossed metal. The pole by which it was supported curved up from the bottom of the bar to the backs of the necks of the horses or oxen, where it was joined to a wooden yoke, this was again strapped round the bodies and necks of the horses, or tied to the horns of the oxen. The addition of bridles and reins would complete the simple harness. Some horses were attached to the pole by an iron bar with knobs at each end, which passed through a ring at the end of the pole, and through a similar ring upon each of the pads or saddles of the horses. This would be very similar to the curricle bars used in modern times, and would allow of more

PLATE 1.

freedom in motion than a fixed yoke would give. The bodies of these chariots, in Egypt at least, were small, usually containing but two persons standing upright. It may be remarked that, as they were so small, they could not have been of much use, and from the small size of the wheels, too, they would be jolted by every little obstacle on the road; and as they were so near the ground, those using them would be exposed to mud and dirt: yet, in spite of these objections, they were used in vast numbers. They were very light, and could be driven at a great speed—nearly as fast as the horses could gallop. They were narrow, and, therefore, suitable to cities in which the streets are still very narrow, and to mountain roads which were often only 4 ft. wide. They suited the period and the people, or their usefulness would not have lasted 2000 years. According to Homer, a strong man could lift a chariot on his shoulders and carry it away. Possibly this would be without the wheels, but even then it could not have been heavier than one of our wheel-barrows.

From Egypt the use of chariots spread into other countries, and they were used in war in large numbers upon the extensive plains of Asia. We read of the 900 chariots of Jabin, king of Canaan; that David took 700 chariots from the kings of Syria, and 1000 from the king of Zobah. Solomon had 1400 chariots, and his merchants supplied northern Syria and the surrounding countries with chariots fetched up out of Egypt at 600 shekels (about £50) a-piece. They were not the first nor the last merchants who have preferred their pockets to their patriotism, and supplied nations who might become their country’s enemies with the weapons of warfare. Solomon, we find, in the Song of Solomon, built a state or wedding chariot of cedar with pillars of gold, probably supporting a canopy. We may also notice the poetic description by the prophet Nahum of the future state of Nineveh, no longer to echo “to the noise of the chariots raging up and down the paved streets, jostling against one another in the broad ways, with the crack of the whip, the rattle of the wheels, the prancing horses and the jumping chariots;” and the remark in another place of “the stamping of strong horses, the rushing of the chariots, and the rumbling of the wheels,” all pointing to the great impression which was made upon the prophet of the wilderness by the carriages and noise of the crowded city.

In a museum of New York is a wheel of an Egyptian chariot, found in a mummy pit at Dashour, by Dr Henry Abbott. It is 3 ft. 3 in. high, the nave is 14½ in. long, and 5 in. in diameter, and worked upon an axle of wood which tapered, and was from 3 in. to 2¾ in. in diameter. The unusual size and length of this axle-arm would be very apparent in so small a vehicle as the Egyptian chariot; the spokes, six in number, are 2 in. by 1⅜ in. at the nave, and taper towards the felloe to 1⅜ in. round; it has a double rim all round. The six inner felloes do not meet as in modern wheels, but are spliced one over the other, with an overlap of 3 in.; the felloes are 1½ in. square. The outer rim is formed also of six felloes, but they are tenoned together, and are pierced all round the lower edge with small holes, through which, we may well conjecture, leather thongs passed, binding the outer to the inner rim. The total depth of the double rim is 3¼ in. by 1¼ in. to 1½ in. in width.

From the ancient sculptures preserved from Nineveh and Babylon, some of which are in the British Museum, we observe the use of chariots was continued in the great plains, for the purposes of hunting as well as for war. The chariots of Assyria were larger than those of Egypt, and would carry three or more persons; they seem, too, much heavier in the build.

The Greeks used chariots, and at the siege of Troy, which Homer has immortalised in his poem, all the chief warriors on both sides are described as going into battle and fighting from their chariots. As years passed on, however, the Greeks no longer used chariots for war, but only for processions in public on state occasions, or in their great races, or for the amusement of their leisure hours. Erectheus, king of Athens, is reported to have been the first to drive four horses in a car; afterwards it became common to use, in the races, four horses attached to each car. The Grecian chariots were all curved in front, and were rather larger and on higher wheels than those used in Egypt. [[Plate 1], [Figure 2.]]

The Roman nation, as it increased in power, adopted the car, which had also been for many years in use by the Etrurians, a neighbouring country to their own in the Italian peninsula. The Etrurians were traditionally the first to place a hood or awning over the open two-wheeled car; they decorated both the car and the awning with that beautiful tracery and ornamental bordering which is familiar to us from the copies of their pottery. The Roman car was chiefly used in the cities, and for purposes of show and state rather than for daily use. A beautiful marble model of one of these still exists at the Vatican in Rome; a copy of it and the horses drawing it is in the Museum at South Kensington. [[Plate 1], [Figure 3.]]

Besides the chariots the Romans had other two-wheeled cars, and four-wheeled waggons of different shapes, and giving different accommodation; but first they were kept for conveying agricultural produce, and for moving goods and baggage, and the better sorts were reserved for the conveyance of the images of their gods and vestal virgins in religious processions. Then came the triumphal processions of successful military commanders, and a variety of vehicles conveyed the conqueror, the captives, and the arms and valuables taken from the enemy. Plutarch tells us that Emilius, the Roman Consul, had 750 waggons in his triumph in the year 170 B.C., bearing the spoils of Perseus, last king of Macedonia. On the column of Trajan at Rome is modelled one of these waggons. It is a large square basket on four wheels, the back a little higher, and the hind wheels also are a very little higher than the front.

Roman history, of the time of Camillus, 350 B.C., mentions a carriage termed a Pilentum, as a splendid four-wheeled carriage with a covering to it, and with seats suspended by straps. The use of these Pilenta was allowed as a special favour to a few great Roman ladies. The Empress Agrippina also had a Carpentum, an elegantly carved carriage on two wheels, the arched covering of which was supported by four female statues; it was drawn by two mules. The Romans also used Basternæ, which were litters or couches with low coverings, carried on poles by horses or mules; and Lecticæ, or litters carried by men only. The Roman chariot was called a Currus.

Herodotus (450 B.C.), and other writers tell us of the vehicles of the ancient Scythians. These were a race of people who inhabited the country near the Caspian Sea, and wandered about with large herds of cattle and horses. They used a rough two-wheeled cart which consisted of a platform, on which they placed a covering shaped like a bee-hive, and composed of basket-work of hazel-wood covered with skins of beasts or thatched with reeds. When they were stationary in any part these bee-hive huts were taken off the carts and placed upon the ground to serve as their dwellings, like gipsy tents.

The war-chariots used by the Persians were larger and more unwieldy than those previously built. The idea seems to have been to form a sort of turret upon the car, from which several warriors might shoot or throw their spears. These chariots were provided with curved blades or scythes projecting from the axle-trees. The Persians had also cars that were used for state processions, in which the king or noble was raised above the crowd among which he passed on a sort of throne of many steps.

The Dacians, who inhabited Wallachia on the Danube and part of Hungary, were conquered by the Romans about the year 300. Their cars are sculptured upon Roman monuments, and resemble the Persian cars. They are on two wheels and drawn by two horses; the shape is that of a large square box or chest, with a smaller box upon it, which formed a seat for the passengers. The spokes of the wheels are six in number, and are widest at the ends supporting the rims of the wheels. A Dacian car of this sort is represented upon a fragment of terra cotta in the British Museum.

Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, invaded Asia and advanced to India; he was met upon the banks of the river Indus by King Porus, in whose army were a number of elephants of large size, and also several thousand chariots; each chariot carried six persons; but the historian notes that in a soft soil or in rainy weather it was difficult for these vehicles to move quickly. On Alexander’s return from India towards Persia, he travelled in a chariot drawn by eight horses, on which a square stage or platform was erected and covered in by a tent. His car was followed by an innumerable number of others, covered with rich carpets and purple coverlets; some shaped like shells or cradles were shaded with the branches of trees. I have seen a drawing of a Persian car in which the body is raised above the wheels and seems to swing from pivots like a large cradle, or such a cot as is used on board ship.

After Alexander’s death a funeral car was prepared

to convey his body from Babylon to Alexandria, in Egypt, a distance of several hundred miles, which car perhaps has never been excelled in the annals of coachbuilding. It was prepared during two years, and was designed by the celebrated architect and engineer, Hieronymus. It was 18 feet long and 12 feet wide, on four massive wheels and drawn by sixty-four mules, eight abreast. The car was composed of a platform with a lofty roof supported by eighteen columns, and was profusely adorned with drapery and gold and jewels; round the edge of the roof was a row of golden bells; in the centre was a throne, and before it the coffin; around were placed the weapons of war and the armour that Alexander had used. This car was thought so much of that several historians have described it, and there are various plans of its appearance, one of which may be seen in Ginzrot’s work on ancient carriages in the British Museum library.

The second epoch of the history of carriages I take to commence at the invasion of Belgium and Britain by the Romans. The ancient Britains had used a car for warlike purposes which was evidently new to the Romans. [[Plate No. 2.]] It was on higher wheels than their cars, it was open in front, and was ascended in the front, instead of, as in their cars, at the back; the pole, instead of sloping up to the horses’ necks, went straight out between the horses’ bodies, and was broad, so that the driver of the car could stand on it, and if necessary, drive from the end of the pole, or leap out and stand before his horses. It was larger than a Roman car, and above all it possessed a seat, and was called essedum from this peculiarity. At times this car was furnished with scythes, which projected from the axle-tree ends. No doubt the same or a similar car was used by the Gauls and Belgians; but the British essedum was the best; and Cicero, writing to a friend in Britain, remarks “that there appeared to be very little worth bringing away from Britain except the chariots, of which he wished his friend to bring him one as a pattern.”

When Cassibelaunus was taken prisoner by the Romans, they also captured six hundred cars and four thousand essedarii, or car-drivers and warriors. I think we may look upon this vehicle as the origin of the curricle of later years. It is certain that it attracted great notice among the Romans, and under its own name, essedum, and with another of a smaller size and with still higher wheels called cisium, became the chief and most rapid vehicles upon the public roads, whether in Italy itself, or along the military roads already made into France, Spain, or Germany. Despatches and letters were conveyed with speed and punctuality to the more distant parts of the Roman Empire. The historian Suetonius mentions that the Emperor Augustus established on the military roads active young men at first, and afterwards carriages, to convey his despatches to the governors of the provinces. Besides these rapid conveyances along the public roads, there was the rheda, a slow sort of waggon drawn by six or eight mules. Buildings were erected along the main road where these different carriages could be hired. Cicero declares that a message was sent fifty-six miles in a cisium in ten hours. On a monumental column at Ingel, near Treves, is the representation of two persons riding in a cisium with one horse. The vehicle is very much like a gig.

Under the Emperors of Rome, the number of kinds and shapes of vehicles increased; but from the vague manner in which the writers of the period speak of them, it is difficult to enter into minute descriptions. The height of the wheels increased. At the capital of Rome, the Emperor Marcus Aurelius is represented in a car of triumph, the wheels of which are as high as the backs of the horses. Sir William Gell, in his work on the ancient city of Pompeii, which was destroyed in the year A.D. 79, mentions that three wheels had been dug out of the ruins in his day—very much like our modern wheels—a little dished, and 4 ft. 3 in. high, with ten spokes, rather thicker at each end than in the middle. Sir W. Gell also gives a well-known picture of a cart used for conveyance of wine in a huge skin or leathern bag; it is a four-wheeled cart, with an arch in the centre for the front wheel to turn under. The pole in this painting appears to end in a fork, and to be attached to the axle-bed. As the wealth of the Romans increased so did their desire to use comfortable and highly-decorated carriages. For many years what are called “sumptuary laws” existed, which regulated each citizen’s dress, furniture, and ornaments, according to his rank and consequence, and these laws restrained the decorations upon private carriages.

The Emperor Alexander Severus, however, issued a decree, “that anyone might decorate his car as he pleased;” and the number of vehicles in use rapidly increased. We find upon monuments many different shaped cars of the time of the Emperors, chiefly processional cars, lofty and highly ornamented, evidently adorned with embossed and chased work in metal, rich carvings, drapery and cushions. On the columns of Theodosius, at Constantinople, are some specially handsome cars on two and on four wheels, with door-like openings in the sides of a square shape. On the arch of Constantine, at Rome, are several cars. Sufficient evidence, however, exists, that for nearly 500 years, during the reign of the different Emperors of Rome, the art of Coachbuilding must have been a good and important business. Besides the ordinary artizans, the woodmen, the wheelwrights, and the smiths, there must have been plenty of employment for the carvers, painters, chasers, embossers, embroiderers, and trimmers.

Homer, as I have mentioned, tells us that the seat of Juno’s car was slung upon cords, to lessen the vibration and jolting attendant upon a car without springs or braces; and it is certain that the Roman Emperors were not better off for comfort and ease than Juno was, unless we except one sort of carriage which is described as borne on long poles, fixed to the axles. Now a certain amount of spring can be obtained from the centre of a long light pole. The Neapolitan Calesso, the Norwegian Carriole, and the Yarmouth Cart, were all made with a view to obtaining ease by suspension on poles between bearings placed far apart. In these the seat is placed midway between the two wheels and the horse, on very long shafts, which are thus made into wooden springs. In the old Roman carriages the weight was carried between the front and hind axles, on long poles or wooden springs. The under-carriage of the later four-wheeled vehicles used by the Romans was, in all probability, the same as is in use in the present day, both in this country and on the Continent, and in America, for the under-carriages of agricultural waggons. There is a work on the subject of ancient carriages which was published at Munich in 1817; it was prepared by John Christian von Ginzrot, who was an inspector in the office of the Master of the Horse of the King of Bavaria. A few copies of this work exist still, but only in the German language, and not easily accessible to the public. This author gives the Greek and Latin names for the pole, perch, wheel-plate, and other technical terms of carriages so fully as to leave no doubt that coach-building was well understood by the Romans. He also gives a plan of a four-wheeled dray [[Plate 4]], used by the Romans for conveying casks of wine, which is identical with the drays used now in Vienna and Munich. If his authorities be sound, we may be satisfied that the art of coachbuilding, as far as the under-carriage works, and the making of agricultural waggons, was as forward in the days of the Cæsars of Rome as it is to this day in central Germany.

We will, however, quit ancient carriages for those now used in Asia. In Hindostan are a great number of vehicles of native build. It has been frequently remarked that there is little change in the Eastern fashions, that tools and workmen are precisely as they were a thousand years ago, and the work they produce is precisely the same. In examining what is done now by Indian coachbuilders, we are probably noticing carriages of a similar, if not identical, sort with those in use three thousand years ago. The commonest cart in Hindostan is called “hackery” by Europeans; it is on two wheels with a high axletree-bed, and a long platform, frequently made of two bamboos, which join in front and form the pole, to which two oxen are yoked; the whole length is united by smaller pieces of bamboo tied together, not nailed. In France, two hundred years ago, there was a similar cart, but the main beams terminated in front in shafts; in neither the cart of India nor of France were there any sides or ends; the French cart is called “Haquet;” it is probable that the French, who were in India as well as ourselves, may have given the term “hackery” to the native cart, which was so like their own. The native name, however, is “Gharry.” Other carts have sides made by stakes driven into the side beams; the wheels are sometimes of solid wood, or even of stone. Wheels are also made by a plank with rounded ends, and two felloes fitted on to complete the circle. Again, wheels are made like ours, and also with six or eight spokes, which are placed in pairs, each pair close to and parallel with one another.

If a carriage for the rich is required the underworks are like those of a cart, but the pole is carefully padded and ornamented with handsome cloths or velvet; the

sides of the body are railed or carved, and the top is of a very ornamental character, similar to the howdah of state that is placed on an elephant. It has a domed roof, supported upon four pillars, with curtains to the back and sides [[Plate 5]]. The passengers ride cross-legged under the dome, on pillows. The driver sits on the pole, which is broad at the butt-end, and he is screened from the heat by a cloth which is fastened to the dome roof and supported upon two stakes which point outwards from the body. A variety of different shaped native vehicles may be seen in elaborate models in the India Museum at South Kensington, but they do not show much originality of design nor beauty of execution, and are said to be really creaking and lumbering affairs. When the Hindoos wished for a four-wheeled vehicle, the plan appears to have been to hook on one two-wheeled vehicle behind another [[Plate 6]], connecting them with a perch-bolt, and upon the hindermost they placed the body.

There is a singular addition to their vehicles outside the wheels; a piece of wood curved to the shape of the wheel is placed above it, frequently supported by two straight uprights from the end of the axle-tree outside the wheel; this acts as a wing or guard to keep any one from falling out of the vehicle, and also the dress of the passengers from becoming entangled in the wheel. In addition, a long bar of wood, rather longer than the diameter of the wheel, curved in the shape called “cupid’s bow,” is fastened to the axletree, the linchpin being outside of it, and the ends of the bar tied to the ends of the wing by cords. I imagine it to be placed in order to be a safeguard for the people in crowded streets, who might be pushed by the throng against the wheel. It will be seen in many of the models, and I have seen it also in ancient drawings of Indian and Persian vehicles. Many of the carts, which are designed to carry heavy loads, have a curved rest from 20 in. to 30 in. long attached to the lower side of the front end of the pole; this serves not only as a prop whilst the vehicle is being loaded, but, should the oxen trip and fall, it supports the cart, and prevents the load, yoke, and harness from weighing down the poor animals as they struggle to recover themselves. In England we have very few of these humane contrivances; we have, however, short rests to prop up a hansom cab when not at work.

In India there are several huge unwieldy structures on wheels called “idol cars;” the name of the car of Juggernaut must be familiar to many. The wheels of some of these are enormous blocks of stone shaped and drilled for the work. In the Indian Museum there is a photograph of an idol car from South India, in the district of Chamoondee and the province of Mysore, which deserves examination. The car appears well proportioned, and the ornamental carvings are beautiful in design, and would bear comparison with most European work.

The Hecca or Heka is a one-horse native car, resembling an Irish car; it consists of a tray for the body, fixed above the wheels on the shafts, and has a canopy roof; the driver sits on the front edge of the tray, and the passenger cross-legged behind him. The Shampony is the usual vehicle for women, which resembles the former, but it is larger; the wheels are outside the body, and it is drawn by two bullocks; the canopy roof is furnished with curtains that are drawn all round, and the driver sits on the pole in front of the body. All these native vehicles have wooden axles, which, until recently, I am told, were used without grease, from the prejudices of the people forbidding them to use animal fat. Some used olive oil or soap, but in most large towns there are now regulations obliging the natives to use some substance to avoid the noise and creaking of the dry axles. The commonest carriages in Central India are called “Tongas,” but the universal native word for a vehicle is “Gharry.”

In Calcutta are several coachbuilders of repute, who employ large numbers of native workmen; Messrs Dyke employ six hundred; Messrs Stewart & Co. four hundred; and Messrs Eastman, three hundred. The men are chiefly Hindoos, and are clever and industrious, but have a singular habit of sitting down at their work. The labourers who have to use grease are all Mahomedans. The wages vary from sixpence to two shillings per day.

A representation of a primitive vehicle, which was in use in Hungary not very long ago, is given by Von Ginzrot as representing the Roman rhedum. It is very curious, and just such a primitive affair as might be made in any country. [[Plate 7].] The body is a disguised waggon; the tilt-top has two leather flaps to fall over the doorway; the panels are of wicker work, such as was in common use for carriages both in Greece and Italy; and of such a character we may suppose the waggons were, which were used by the many wandering tribes that, in the times of the Roman empire, poured out of Asia and Russia, and invaded Germany, Gaul, and Italy. In the history of Julius Cæsar’s wars in Gaul, we are told of the large number of waggons which the savage wandering tribes possessed.

Another primitive vehicle is the Turkish “Araba,” [[Plate 8]] used for the conveyance of women. The lattice-work admits air without too much light. The singular wing-guards over the wheels identify this “Araba” as being derived from the same source as the carriages of Persia and Hindostan. These vehicles have been superseded in many parts of Turkey, Asia, and Egypt by carriages sent from the west of Europe.

In 1860 a carriage was made for one of the ladies of the Sultan’s harem, which consisted of silver as far as possible. It cost, it is said, 2,000,000 Turkish piastres, about £15,000, a very expensive present for the ruler of Turkey to make to one out of many wives.

To speak of one more primitive carriage. Dr Edgeworth describes some cars which were in use in his time (that is in 1800) in Ireland, as the common vehicles of the country. They were composed of shafts with cross-bars; two low wheels of solid wood were wedged on to the axle-tree, so as to form one piece, like a railway axle and wheels; they were nearer together than the shafts, and ran inside the shafts; the axle projected beyond the wheels, and moved in sockets beneath the shafts. These cars, Dr Edgeworth says, “cost only four guineas, including painting; they would follow a horse anywhere, they could scarcely be overturned even with bulky loads, they were light and easily moved by hand, their repair was easy, and they lay so near the ground that they could be easily loaded and unloaded; the whole would turn in a very small compass.” It is probable that these were the primitive cars of Ireland. The nearest approach to them in the present day are the costermonger’s barrows. We have noticed how light and simple are these vehicles, and that a wretched pony or donkey will canter along with three or even four persons sitting upon them. They also resemble the Yarmouth cart, in which the wheels are inside the shafts; but then the difference is, that the shafts of the Yarmouth carts are of great length, and the load is carried between the horse and the wheels instead of over the wheels, as is usual in a cart. In some parts of Wales cars are used of this construction, and are also supposed to be the primitive cars of that country; their wheels are solid. In Yarmouth this shape was adopted to suit the very narrow streets or alleys, which a cart made with the wheels outside the shafts could not traverse. The great length of the shafts is occasioned by the necessity of carrying a quantity of goods, such as barrels or sacks, which would tend to make the vehicle top-heavy, if piled up above the wheels.

The Irish jaunting car, as now built, is superior to the vehicle of forty years ago. It was then on lower wheels, and being hung lower, the shafts pitched up in front, and the unfortunate passengers were huddled upon one another at every jolt in the road. This car was very light, a great benefit for the horse; it is easily turned and moved in a crowded thoroughfare, and is capable of conveying more luggage than might at first be supposed. The car is no doubt very cheap, and perhaps more Irish drivers are able to own their own cars than are the drivers of London cabs. Irishmen, perhaps, like the vehicle to which they are accustomed, but it will never become popular in this country.

The car, however, used in Cork, is still more uncomfortable. It is an inside car, that is, instead of sitting back to back, you sit face to face, and to most there is a hood or tilt; a very good vehicle, no doubt, for two persons at a slow pace, but with four persons at a trot it is the worst vehicle I had ever the misfortune to enter. If the Cork car was hung on higher wheels, and the shafts kept parallel to the ground, it would be a better vehicle; if, however, it cannot be balanced properly, it should be placed upon four wheels, like the inside cars of the North of England.

I will mention one more primitive vehicle,—the cart with a tilt, with side windows, and a door behind, which is called a Coburg, and is used in the south-west of England; when on good springs, it is a very cheap and comfortable vehicle. In Belgium and Holland it is much used, and is usually built of a larger size than in England. It is, however, after all, rather like a bathing-machine on wheels. It is to be found pictured in our earliest illustrations of vehicles in old English illuminated manuscripts, differing from the modern Coburg only in the want of a door and springs.

In reviewing what I have laid before you as to ancient carriages, I would say, that any one who desires to learn more about them can do so in the pages of the London Carriage Builders’ Art Journal for 1859 and 1860, which appears to contain much of the information given by the German work of Von Ginzrot.

It is interesting to observe the character of the different people illustrated in their carriages. The Egyptians, with all their learning and skill, appear to have made no change during centuries of experience; as at the beginning, so at the end, the kings stand by the side of their charioteers, or hold the reins themselves. The Persians and Hindoos introduced luxurious improvements, and in lofty vehicles elevated the nobles above the heads of the people, and secluded their women in curtained carriages. The Greeks introduced no new vehicles, but perfected so successfully the useful waggon, that their model is still seen throughout Europe, without change of principle or structure. The Romans, on the other hand, in their career of conquest, gathered from every nation what was good, and, wherever possible, improved upon it:—From Greece, the waggons; from Persia, the harmamaxa and elevated triumphal cars; and from Hungary, the rheda. We may well add that the genius of the Roman nation speaks through Cicero, when he wrote, “I hear that in Britain are most excellent chariots; bring me one of them for a pattern.”

CHAPTER II.

Whirlicote of the Middle Ages—Charettes—Cars of the Middle Ages—Revival of Carriages—The first Coaches—The German Waggon—Ancient Saxon Waggon—The Horse Litter—The Old Coaches at Coburg—Early Italian Coaches—Coach of Queen Elizabeth—Coach of Charles I.—Coach of Henri Quatre—Time of Louis XIV.—The Brouette and Steel Springs—The Berlin—Old Coaches at Vienna—Horse Litter at the Imperial Mews—Utility of Steel Springs—Mr Samuel Pepys’ Diary—Sedan Chairs—Coachbuilding in 1770—Chariot à l’Anglaise—Encyclopædia on Coachbuilding—Cabriolets—Light Chariots—The Darnley Chariot.

WITH the decadence of the Romans we may well suppose many of the arts of civilisation fell into disuse. The skilled artisans died out and left no successors, for their work was not required, and for some centuries we find little or no mention of carriages.

Ordinary carts were used, it is true, but the great and wealthy moved about the cities or travelled on horseback, and if ill they had litters carried by men or horses. But another cause tended to the disuse of wheeled carriages—the state of the roads.

The Romans had been celebrated for the perfection of their roads; some of these have lasted nearly two thousand years. There is one, called the Appian way, which leads from Rome to near Naples, made B.C. 500 by the Consul, Appius Claudius, which is paved with blocks of stone, and can still be travelled upon after such a lapse of time. Roads like these could easily be traversed by carriages, but in the course of time they fell into disorder, whilst barbarian tribes had overrun Italy and driven the Romans from Germany, France, and Britain.

The increase of population caused a gradual increase of traffic, and the formation of new roads, which, from the absence of method in making them, soon became mere horse-tracks, and very unsuitable for travelling on wheels for pleasure. We ascertain, however, from old manuscripts and books, that, by degrees, the use of two and four-wheeled carts was revived by the wealthy, in addition to riding on horseback as a means of travelling. The only distinction, however, from common carriers’ carts was in the use of carving on the woodwork, and gaily coloured curtains and cushions.

In the reign of Richard II., we find mention of a vehicle termed a whirlicote, viz., a cot or bed upon wheels. The king and his mother rode a whirlicote in 1380, when she was sick, and history tells us that they were much used for the conveyance of ladies, but still more for their luggage. We are told by Stowe that “in the following year King Richard took to wife Anne, the daughter of the King of Bohemia, and she first brought hither the riding upon sidesaddles, and so was the riding in those chariots and whirlicotes forsaken except at coronations and such like spectacles.” We have here evidence that the chariot and whirlicote of that time were identical. In 1294, Philip, King of France, issued an ordinance prohibiting the citizens’ wives the use of cars or chars. In 1267, Charles of Anjou entered Naples, and his queen, Beatrice, rode in a Caretta, the outside and inside covered with sky-blue velvet powdered with golden lilies, and in 1273 Pope Gregory X. entered Milan in a caretta. In an early English poem, the father of a princess of Hungary promises—

“To-morrow ye shall on hunting fare,
And ride my daughter in a char;
It shall be covered with velvet red,
And cloths of velvet about your head.”

Froissart speaks of the return of the English from Scotland in the time of Edward III. in their charettes about 1360. We can therefore trace the word chariot from the original Roman currus, car, char, charette, charet, chariot, as a vehicle used in the middle ages, and gradually becoming that chiefly used in state processions.

When King Henry VIII.’s queen, Anne Boleyn, went to her coronation, she passed through the streets of London; gravel had been strewed all over the pavement that the horses should not slide, and wooden railings were placed along the route; this was on May 31st, 1533. Anne herself was in a litter of white cloth of gold, not covered or bailled, which was carried by two palfreys clad in white damask to the ground, led by two footmen; following her were two chariots covered with red cloth of gold, a third chariot in white, with six ladies in it in crimson velvet; and a fourth chariot was red, with eight ladies in it.

Twenty years later, on September 30th, 1553, Queen Mary Tudor rode through the city from the Tower to Westminster to her coronation in a chariot of cloth of tissue, drawn by six horses trapped with the like cloth, and a canopy was borne over her chariot. A second chariot had a covering of cloth of silver all white, and six horses trapped with the like, wherein sat Lady Elizabeth and the Lady Anne of Cleves. Then two other chariots covered with red satin, and the horses betrapped with the same. Also forty-six gentlewomen rode on horseback in the procession.

Now what was the shape of these chariots? We are able to judge from a painting of the triumph of the Emperor Maximillian I., on the walls of the Town-hall at Nuremburg, a copy of which is in the Museum at South Kensington, also from a sculpture at Orleans Cathedral [[Plate 3]], and from an old print of Queen Elizabeth in a chariot. It was an open vehicle on four wheels, rather higher at the back than at the sides, open in front, and containing two or three seats, what the French once called a char-a-banc.

M. Roubo has preserved a design of a charette in his work written for the French Academy of Arts, but we cannot have a safer and more reliable model than in a Flemish car or char-a-banc now in the Museum at South Kensington; this is a very small vehicle with but two seats, only four people could just sit in it, and it is suspended on leather braces, which we do not know had been introduced into England in Queen Mary’s time, but that even is not impossible or improbable. We may, therefore, fairly conclude that in this Flemish car we see an improved representation of what our ancestors used during many hundred years under the name of whirlicote car, and of different sizes, to carry from four to twelve persons.

About the commencement of the sixteenth century we find that there was a remarkable revival of Coachbuilding in Italy, France, Spain, and Germany; and it has been warmly debated in which of these countries it commenced, which originated the word coach, and which first suspended a coach upon braces.

I may premise that we find also a vast increase in the size of the wheels used. Up to this period wheels of 4 feet to 4 feet 6 inches seem to have been the limit; but the first coaches, and all their successors for nearly two hundred and fifty years, had wheels 5 feet and upwards in height. I can only suppose that, as soon as any large body had to be conveyed, the model of the vehicle was taken from a timber-carriage, such as must have been in use in all parts of Europe. Secondly, although at first all the wheels of a coach were similar in height, it was soon found necessary, for use in cities, that the coach must turn in a shorter space than a lofty front wheel would allow. Consequently, the front wheel was made lower, and an imperfection was caused, the effects of which have been felt by horse and vehicle to the present day.

In all the claims to the origin of the coach, we must understand that by that word we mean a conveyance in which the roof forms part of the framing of the body—as distinguished from cars and biroches, above which a canopy was often placed by means of iron rods or wooden pillars.

We have further to notice that the vehicles called coaches are distinguished from chariots, by the name of Hungarian coaches, by the Italian writers, and that we must consider a coach to have been not merely a covered, but a suspended vehicle, after the fashion introduced first in Hungary.

Mr Bridges Adams, in his work on carriages, mentions that Ladislaus, King of Hungary, sent an ambassador to King Charles VII., to Paris, and as a present a beautiful carriage, the body of which “trembled;” it is considered that this coach was suspended upon leather braces, and was a specimen of the coaches already in use in Hungary.

The word coach in all European languages has the same sound, and is derived from the town of Kotze in Hungary, where coaches were first built, just as Landaus and Berlins were so named from the cities that first produced them. The coach from Hungary was given to Charles VII., at Paris, in the year 1457. In 1474, the Emperor Frederick III. rode to Frankfort in a coach covered and suspended. In 1509, the Pope Paul III. visited Ferrara, and was met by the duke with a train of sixty coaches, whilst to make it clear that these were not the cars, the historian mentions that the Duchess of Ferrara rode in a litter, and her ladies followed her in twenty-two cars. At this period, 1550, there were only three coaches in Paris, one belonging to the Queen of Francis I., another to Diana of Poitiers, and a third to a corpulent nobleman who could not mount a horse. There must have been many other vehicles in France, but, it seems, only three covered and suspended coaches. In 1594, the Margrave of Brandenburg, father of the first Duke of Prussia, had thirty-six coaches, each with six horses.

We will now consider what was the origin and the shape of these coaches. It is in the German waggon that we find the origin of the coach. Throughout Germany, Russia, France, and other parts of Europe, the chief agricultural vehicle is the waggon. [[Plate 4].] It is of the same form now that it was a hundred years ago. The under part is similar in its construction to our timber-waggons, and, like them, it is capable of being lengthened or shortened at pleasure. The wheels vary in height, according to the requirements of the owner and the country, and the chief purpose for which it is used. As in our timber-waggons, the wheels are sometimes 4 feet and 5 feet high, and sometimes they are as low as 2 feet 8 inches in front and 3 feet 6 inches behind, but the usual size is 3 feet 6 inches in front and 4 feet behind, the track on the road between the tyres is but 4 feet, and the centres of the axle-trees are about 7 feet apart. The carriage is composed of a transom in front, with a perch (as we name the long piece of timber that unites the front and hind wheels) fastened to it. There is a hind axle-tree bed formed of two pieces of timber, clipped together, between which the wings are notched in; these wings meet together above the perch to which they are united by a strong iron pin. The under works consist of a front axletree bed, also made of two pieces clipped together with two futchels notched in between, and meeting in a point in front, and spreading outwards behind the axletree bed; a long sway bar, generally quite straight, rests on the futchels and bears against the under part of the perch. Our word futchels is derived through the French word fourchils, from the Latin furca or fork. The pole of these waggons has at the hind end two wings fixed by iron hoops; the wings are fitted outside the front end of the futchels and are secured by two moveable iron pins. This method of attaching the pole is very ancient; it was in use in the time of the Romans, and may be traced in old pictures. The horses are harnessed to splinter or drawing bars; the longest of these is attached to the pole by a bolt or pin. When the load is light, it is common to harness one horse only to the left or near side of the pole. The under works being thus complete, a body is formed by two long fir poles laid from the top of the transom to the top of the hind axletree bed, about 18 inches apart, with two planks between. Outside the poles are four standard posts, about 30 inches long, which rise upright from the transom and axle-beds, but which, viewed from behind, spread outwards from four to six inches each towards the wheels. The sides are formed by planks resting against these standard posts, and the ends of the waggon are also moveable. The body is thus much narrower at the bottom than at the top. We shall find that this shape pervades all the early vehicles used by the wealthy classes, showing very plainly the original type of the coach. When the waggon is thus fitted up with plank sides, it can carry earth, manure, or roots. When the farmer wishes to transport a load of hay, the planks are removed, the carriage is lengthened two or more feet, and the sides are formed by long and high hurdles. If a large cask of wine has to be transported, the sides are removed and the cask placed upon the centre of the poles, and, as the waggon moves along, the poles may be seen to sway slightly up and down under the weight of the cask, as the poles of a sedan-chair, or palankeen sway, suggesting, as I hope to show hereafter, a means of forming a species of spring for the ease of anyone riding in the waggon.

We find, then, at a very early date, that waggons were chiefly employed for the conveyance of agricultural produce or the transport of merchandise and the goods of the upper classes. It was also easy, by placing planks across the sides, or suspending seats by straps from the sides, to use the waggons for the conveyance of men and women. But we have evidence that they were made still more free from jolting. In an ancient Saxon manuscript treating on the book of Genesis and the history of Joseph in Egypt, there is an illustration of the meeting of Joseph and Jacob. The father is seated in a two-wheeled cart drawn by a pair of oxen, but Joseph is seated in a hammock, suspended by iron hooks from the standard posts of one of these waggons which I have been describing. This manuscript is supposed to be of the eleventh century, and the artist would be likely to represent only what

was in use in his own time for the easy conveyance of great people.

The next step, however, in the advance of Coachbuilding, would be the use of a better body than that of a mere cart. Such was the case with the Horse Litter [[Plate 9]]. These were long and narrow—long enough for a person to recline in—and no wider than could be carried between the poles which are placed on either side of the horses. They were about 4 ft. to 5 ft. long, and 2 ft. 6 in. wide, with low sides and higher ends. The entrance was in the middle, on both sides, the doors being formed sometimes by a sliding panel and sometimes simply by a cross-bar. The steps were of leather or iron loops, the latter being hinged to turn up when the litter was placed on the ground. The upper part was formed by a few broad wooden hoops, united along the top by four or five slats, and over the whole a canopy was placed, which opened in the middle, at the sides and ends, for air and light. The first pleasure-waggon bodies were made in a similar fashion to the horse-litters, but rather longer and wider, with similar doors. By degrees these bodies were ornamented with carving, and the slats of the tilt-top were exchanged for poles, whose ends were ornamented with metal rosettes, or animals’ heads, and gilt. I have not found any certain date at which these bodies were first suspended upon straps or braces. The suspension of a hammock from the standard posts of a waggon, and of the litter from the harness of the horses, would, however, suggest the suspension of these improved waggon bodies from the same standard posts. I have seen in a very early picture in oil, at Nuremberg, two waggons such as I have described, with carved and gilt standard posts both in front of and behind the body, the tilt-tops have the middle of the sides cut out square, and made to turn over the top, and the driver sits outside the waggon body between the standards.

We have, however, at Coburg, the capital of Saxe-Coburg, several ancient vehicles preserved, which are among the oldest in Europe. One of these was built for the occasion of the marriage of the Elector of Saxony, Duke John Cassimir, in 1584, to Anne of Saxony [[Plate 10]]. It has leather braces and high wheels, which measure 4 ft. 8 in. and 5 ft. in height; the distance from centre to centre of the axle-trees is 10 ft. 6 in. The carved standard posts, from which the body hangs by the leather braces, are evidently developed from the standards of the common waggon. The body is 6 ft. 4 in. long, but only 3 ft. wide. The steps have now disappeared. The wheels have wooden rims, but over the joints of the felloes are small plates of iron about 10 in. long.

This coach is not the only one. There is another, rather longer and larger, built for the Duke’s second marriage, in 1599, with the Lady Margaret. There is also a smaller coach-body built for the Duke John Frederick, as early as 1527, for his marriage with Sybilla of Cleves. This small coach was shown this year at the Exhibition of arts at Munich; the iron loops by which it had been suspended are still on the body.

There are also two small Coach bodies, which are to be seen at Verona, and are shown at the Palace Sarego Allighieri, with the story that they were used by Dante the poet. This is a fable. Count Gozzadini, in his recent work on ancient coaches, says that, by the heraldic shield still on one coach, he finds it was built in 1549, at the marriage of Ginevra, the last of the race of Dante Allighieri, with Count Marc Antonio di Sarego. This Coach, as may be seen in Plate 11, is beautifully shaped and ornamented. Both are but skeleton bodies, and had to be covered to keep off the sun or rain, with leather, cloth, and silk curtains.

There are curious sumptuary laws cited by Count Gozzadini as enacted during the sixteenth century in various Italian cities, against the excessive use of silk, velvet, embroidery, and gilding in the coverings of coaches and the trappings of horses.

In 1564, Pope Pius IV. exhorted the cardinals and bishops not to ride in coaches, according to the fashion of the time, but to leave such things to women, and themselves ride on horseback. Duke Julius of Brunswick issued an edict in 1588, that his subjects should desist from indolent riding in coaches, and should return to the useful discipline of riding on horses.

The use of coaches in Germany, in the sixteenth century, was not less than in Italy; the current of trade, especially from the East, had for a long time poured into those two countries towards Holland, enriching all the cities in its progress, and the rich traders built fine houses, and churches, and town halls, and would have their coaches handsomely decorated as well as their houses. Macpherson, in his history of commerce, says that Antwerp possessed five hundred coaches in 1560, in the time of Queen Elizabeth. France and England appear to have been behind the rest of Europe at this period.

The first coach was made in England in 1555 for the Earl of Rutland, by Walter Rippon, who also made a coach in 1556 for Queen Mary, and in 1564, a state coach for Queen Elizabeth; in 1580, the Earl of Arundel brought over a coach from Germany. Queen Elizabeth, however, preferred the use of a coach [[Plate 12]] which William Boonen brought her from Holland in 1560, and made him her coachman. This William Boonen’s wife brought out of Holland the art of clear-starching, and was appointed to prepare the Queen’s famous cambric ruffs, which in pictures of her are displayed round her neck. Taylor, called the water-poet, says that old Parr gave him this information in 1605, and adds that since, “coaches have increased with a mischief, and have ruined the trade of the waterman by hackney coaches, and now multiply more than ever.” Another writer complains that “now the use of these coaches brought of Germany is taken up and made common, that great ladies caused coaches to be made for them, and rid in them up and down the counties to the great admiration of all the beholders, and little by little they grew usual among the nobility and others of quality, so within twenty years there grew up a great trade of Coachbuilding in England.”

A curious tract or pamphlet was published in

London in 1636, entitled “A Dialogue between a Coach and a Sedan-chair.” In the figure of the coach, as given in this tract [[Plate 13]], there are no leather braces marked, but the artist may have omitted what he considered unnecessary details, just as the artists of the present day, making a cheap view of a procession, will figure coaches and chariots of a shape that was obsolete fifty years ago, and even in pictorial journals that should draw better, the shape and details of carriages are unfaithfully rendered. Still, on the whole, we may consider this gives the coach of the period—a long body, a domed roof, the sides open, with curtains to draw down when requisite, no door, but a leather screen hung across the doorway, a very small coachman’s seat, and swingletrees for the horses’ traces.

In 1641, on November 25th, Charles I. passed through the City of London on his return from Scotland, and banqueted with the citizens at Guildhall. He was met at Kingsland by the city authorities and five hundred liverymen of the city companies on horseback, each with his footman and torch-bearer, and was accompanied to Whitehall after the banquet by the liverymen with their torch-bearers. It is worthy of notice that the king’s coach is the only coach spoken of, and that the King, Queen, the Elector Palatine, their brother-in-law, the Duchess of Richmond, and three of the royal children, seven persons in all, rode therein. Plate 14 shews a coach of this period.

In France, King Henry IV. was assassinated in his coach by Ravaillac on May 16th, 1710. The account states that the coach was surrounded by blinds or curtains, but the king had drawn them back that the people might see him; with him in the coach were seven noblemen, that is, two persons on each seat, and two in each boot. A drawing of this coach has been preserved [[Plate 15]], by which we see the roofs and supports (somewhat resembling the outline of a Roman or Asiatic vehicle) and the curtain hanging over the doorway in front of the boot.

A coach belonging to a Duke of Saxe-Coburg is still to be seen at the castle at Coburg; in this the body is 7 ft. 6 in. long in the middle, the wheels are 4 ft. and 4 ft. 10 in. high, the roof and upper quarters are of black leather nailed on with brass nails, the heads as large as a sixpence and rounded. On either side of the doorway are iron bars to form the sides of the boot, and the doorway is guarded by a wooden cross-bar padded which drops upon two pins, and from which bar the curtain would fall over the doorway. With such a length of body we can understand how eight persons could ride in it. In prints of this period all coaches are drawn like this, with the bodies suspended on leather braces—with domed roofs and with the front wheels generally rather low—with a coachman seated upon a cross-bar or cushion suspended between the two front standard posts, and his feet upon a board projecting at the bottom of the posts over the pole.

Some coaches are depicted so wide that they may have held three persons on each seat, but the general appearance is that of Louis XIV.’s first coach [[Plate 16]].

No trace of glass windows or complete doors seems to have existed up to 1650. But plain and rude as was the first coach of Louis XIV. it was in his reign, which lasted till 1715, that the most rapid progress was made in Coachbuilding. From the simple waggon-like skeleton body was developed by degrees a beautifully shaped, carved, and panelled piece of cabinet work [[Plate 17]], such as we can justly allow to be worthy the name of a coach, and this delighted our ancestors in the reign of Queen Anne. The credit of this transformation is equally due to Germany, Italy, France, and England; in each country improvements seem to have been made simultaneously.

The following is the description by a French author, M. Roubo, of the change that took place in Louis XIV.’s reign. The corbillards are the earliest French coaches of which we know the exact form. [[Plate 18].] These were straight-bottomed, open at the upper sides or quarters, which were furnished with curtains of cloth and leather; at first these were tied on, and would roll up when air was required; they had no doors, but were entered on either side by a moveable rail, over which a leather screen was hung. Behind these screens were seats, a little above the floor, where the pages of the owner of the carriage sat sideways. Sometimes there was a projection on either side called a boot, in which the pages sat.

The next coaches had curved bottoms, and were made with a wooden door half-way up the body, and the whole of the lower part of the body was panelled instead of being covered with cloth; this change is supposed to have taken place about 1660. As the coach began thus to be built in, carving, gilding, and painting were introduced, and beauty in shape increased. Next came the introduction of glass to the sides. A complete door reaching to the roof, with sliding glasses, followed.

There is very little mention made by historians of steel springs, but they were first applied to wheel carriages about 1670. At this period a vehicle drawn by men, and called a Brouette (or wheelbarrow) was introduced at Paris. [[Plate 19].] It was a sedan chair, to hold one person, with the door in front like the sedan chairs are now made, but on two wheels, about 3 ft. 6 in. high, and with two poles or shafts projecting forward, between which one man ran, whilst another pushed behind if the weight required it. There is a vehicle now much in use in Japan and China that seems a revival of the brouette; I think it is called a Jin-rik-sha.

The brouette was improved by Dupin, who applied two elbow-springs beneath the front, and attached them to the axletree by long shackles, the axletree working up and down in a groove beneath the inside seat. This is the first record of the application of steel springs to carriages. Many bath-chairs have springs from the body to the axletree in this method, and there is a tradition in the north of England that small broughams, on two wheels drawn by men, were used sixty years ago, as well as sedan chairs, for the conveyance of ladies to evening parties.

It has been said that a Mr Thomas brought springs

first before the notice of the scientific body of the Academy at Paris in 1703, but this is erroneous. The spring Mr Thomas mentioned is a small spiral spring to be placed between the double leather brace of a carriage. [See this spring in Plate 28.]

The first application of steel springs to a coach was beneath the bottom of the body; the loop of the brace was hinged, and between the body and the loop were placed two elbow-springs. [[Plate 19].]

The Company of Coach and Coach-harness Makers was founded in May 1677 by Charles II., and was confirmed by King James II. in the third year of his reign.

In Germany, there was invented about 1660 the vehicle called the Berlin. It will be remembered that in the German waggon the bottom of the body is formed by two long poles, which afford a certain amount of spring when weighted only in the middle. Acting on this principle, Philip de Chiesa, a Piedmontese in the service of Frederick William, the Duke of Prussia, invented and built a carriage, which received the name of Berlin. [[Plate 20].] It had two perches instead of one, and between these two perches, from the front transom to the hind axletree bed, two strong leather braces were placed, with jacks or small windlasses, to wind them tighter if they stretched. The bottom of the coach was altered from being straight to an easy curve, and it was fixed upon these braces of leather, which allowed it to play up and down with the motion of the carriage, instead of swinging to and fro from four high posts. Philip, the inventor, died in 1673.

In the Imperial mews at Vienna are four coach berlins, which, I think, may belong to this period. They are said to have been built for the Emperor Leopold, who reigned at Vienna from 1658 to 1700, and Kink describes this emperor’s wedding carriages as covered with red cloth and as having glass panels; he also says they were called the Imperial glass coaches. It is possible that the coaches have been a little altered from the time of their construction, but I consider that in these four we have the oldest coaches with solid doors and glasses all round that exist in Europe. Whether they are identical with the Emperor Leopold’s wedding carriages matters much less than the influence the Berlin undoubtedly had upon the Coachbuilding of that period. It was the means of introducing the double perch, which, although it is not now in fashion, was adopted for very many carriages both in England and abroad, up to 1810. Crane-necks to perches were suggested by the form of the Berlin perch; and as bodies swinging from standard posts suggested the position of the C spring, so bodies resting upon long leather braces suggested the horizontal and elbow springs to which we owe so much. The first Berlin was made as a small vis-à-vis coach—small because it was to be used as a light travelling carriage, and narrow because it was to hang between the two perches, and was only needed to carry two persons inside. It was such an improvement in lightness and appearance upon the cumbersome coaches that carried eight persons, that it at once found favour, and was imitated in Paris, and still more in London.

At Vienna there is also to be seen a horse litter of this period [[Plate 21]], which is interesting as another specimen of a small vis-à-vis coach with glass windows. In shape it exactly resembles the coaches on the arms of the Coach and Coach-harness Makers’ Company of the City of London. [[Plate 22].] It is a singular instance of the length of time that some old patterns exist, that this horse-litter exactly resembles the shape of the sedan chairs still in use at the public baths at Ischl, in Austria—that is, if this litter were cut in half, you would have two sedan chairs. It is said that the Spanish wife of the Emperor Ferdinand III. rode in a glass carriage, so small as to contain two persons only, as early as 1631. It is possible that this horse-litter may be the carriage spoken of. Glass was in common use then for windows; but plate-glass, such as was used for State coaches in 1700, was not made at all in England until 1670.

Towards the end of the seventeenth century, among the wealthier classes, decoration was applied to coaches to an extent that would surprise us now-a-days. Wheels were again ornamented, as in the times of the old Roman empire; the spokes were shaped and carved, the rims moulded, and the naves highly embossed. The panels had beautiful paintings upon them; sometimes the whole was the subject of a picture in which a landscape and figures appeared, sometimes surrounded with a continuous ribbon border of flower work, or the panels were divided into squares or diamonds of diaper work, each little partition bearing a flower or device. The inside linings were of brocaded silk or velvet.

But all this century the use and number of coaches in England was increasing, and at length the value of springs in lessening the weight of coaches was fully understood; and this demands a short explanation. First it was found that when the body was suspended upon springs, the vibration, and consequently the wear and tear of not only the body, but in a degree of the underworks or carriage, was reduced, and the entire amount of timber used could be safely diminished, and with it the load behind the horses. And secondly, when the wheels had to be pulled over an obstacle or out of a ditch, the weight of the entire coach had not to be lifted as formerly, since the elasticity of the spring allowed the wheel to rise without lifting all the body and its passengers with it. It is of importance to understand this clearly, and anyone may convince himself by watching the motion of two loaded carts over a bad road, one having springs and the other being without them.

In Mr Samuel Pepys’ diary during the year 1665, we find on May 1st, “After dinner I went to the tryall of some experiments about making of coaches go easy. And several we tried, but one did prove mighty easy [not for me to describe here, further than that the whole of the body lies upon one long spring], and we all one after another rid in it, and it is very fine, and likely to take.” (This may have been a Berlin car.)

On September 5th he writes, “After dinner comes Colonel Blunt in his new chariot made with springs, as that which was made of wicker, and wherein a while ago we rode at his house. And he hath rode he says now, this journey, many miles in it with one horse, and outdrives any coach, and so easy he says. So for curiosity I went in it to try it, and up the hill to the heath, and over the cart ruts, and found it pretty well, but not so easy as he pretends.”

In 1666, January 22nd, “I went with Dr Wilkins, Mr Hook, Lord Brouncker, and others, to Colonel Blunt’s, to consider again of the business of chariots, and to try their new invention, which I here saw Lord Brouncker ride in, where the coachman sits astride upon a pole over the horse, but do not touch the horse, which is a pretty odd thing.”

In 1668, November 5th, Mr Pepys went with Mr Perry all the afternoon among the Coachmakers in Cow-lane, and “did pitch upon a little chariot, whose body was framed but not covered, it being very light, and will be very genteel and sober.”

December 2nd, “Abroad with my wife, the first time that I ever rode in my own coach.”

In 1669, April 19th, “Calling about my coach which hath been to the Coachmakers to be painted and the window frames gilt again.” We see from this entry that in 1669 coaches were made in England already with glass windows.

April 30th, “To the Coachmaker’s, and find many ladies sitting in the body of a coach, which must be finished by to-morrow, the Lady Marquess of Winchester and Lady Bellasis eating of bread and butter and drinking of ale; my coach is silvered over, but no varnish yet laid. I stood by it till at eight at night, and saw the painters varnish it, and it dries almost as fast as it can be laid on. I sent the same night my coachman and horses to fetch the coach home;” and on May 1st, “At noon to dinner, and after through the town with our new liveries of serge, and the horses’ manes and tails tied up with red ribbons, and new green reins.”

Sedan chairs came into fashion in England in 1634, and were in general use by the middle of the century. The alteration in the form of the coach, from the long barge shape of Charles I.’s time to that of Charles II. was, no doubt, suggested by the shape of the sedan chair, in London as well as in Germany.[2] The improvements mentioned by Mr Pepys show that coaches were being altered, but the progress of springs was slow. We appear, in England, to have taken the lead, in at the same time introducing springs and lessening the weight of coaches. In 1770, an elaborate treatise on Coachmaking was published at Paris by the Academy of Arts, written by Mons. Roubo. In this work we find that even at Paris then, springs were not at all universal. They were applied to the four corners of a perch carriage, and placed upright, and at first only clipped in the middle to the posts of the earlier carriages, and the leather braces went from the tops of the springs to the bottoms of the bodies, without any long iron loops such as we now

use; and, as the braces were very long, we find that complaints were made of the excessive swinging, tilting, and jerking of the body. Another method of the application of springs was beneath the body. The Queen’s coach is thus suspended. Four elbow-springs, as we should call them, were fastened to the bottom of the body [[Plate 19], [Figure 2]], but again the ends did not project beyond the bottom, and the braces were still kept too long; Mons. Roubo doubts whether springs were of much use.

It seems clear from this work, that one hundred years ago the art of Coachbuilding was in some respects equal to that of the present day. Their timber was carefully selected and dried, the bodies were framed and panelled, the shape, and curves, and side sweep, and turn-under was regulated by very careful drawings, the grooves for the blinds and glasses were well made. Blinds were made both panelled, perforated, and to open, just the same as those which we call venetian blinds, and a fourth sort with fixed open slats, as are now used in Turkey and India. Panels were then, as now in France, chiefly of walnut-wood, and M. Roubo describes the method of curving them by wetting one side and exposing the other to a hot fire. He also gives designs for the various tools used by the woodmen and the smiths. He enumerates the various classes of workmen, including painters and trimmers, and adds “all these are independent workmen, yet who should have a knowledge of one another’s work, that the work of one hinders not the work of another, their mutual knowledge should concur in the acceleration and perfection of the whole.”

Coaches at this period were hung comparatively high, being necessarily above the perch. Berlin Coaches or Vis-à-vis were hung between two perches, and therefore nearer to the ground. The body of some Berlins also had a solid top or roof, but the sides and ends were of leather, which could be rolled up to admit of more air. These may have given the idea of a singular carriage which preceded the Landau. [[Plate 23].] Some coaches had windows in the side quarters. A few were still made to hold eight persons inside. The shapes admitted of considerable variety; the elbow line was straight or in three or four curves; the quarters either what we call the britchka quarters, or a concave single sweep from the elbow to the end of the bottom side, like the shape of Her Majesty’s State Coach. Chariots were made with the hind quarter similar in shape to the front pillar, that is with a concave sweep. M. Roubo goes on to tell us that chariots, being smaller than coaches and lighter, were at first called diligences. But in consequence of the speedy passage of a stage coach from Paris to Lyons, it obtained the name of diligence, which has since remained to those large double coaches still in use on the Continent. We also find the drawing of an invalid or Dormeuse coach, very ingeniously contrived, and descriptions of the different summer open carriages, some with and some without springs; there are a few of really elegant shapes. He enumerates

chaises, phaetons, cabriolets, caleches, “Anglaises desobligeants” (or what we should call sulkies, that would only contain one person), lastly and the wourst, a vehicle introduced from Germany for sporting, and which is a Russian drosky, but very much longer than those we have seen in England, there is a crane neck in the perch to allow the wheel to turn, and the seat, which is hung on braces, is very narrow, for the passengers to sit on it astride.

M. Roubo describes at length, and gives a plan of the Anglaise. It is a chariot, with the modern curved lower quarter panel suspended upon a double swan-necked perch, rather high front wheels, and four whip springs, and with a small hammer-cloth in front. [[Plate 24].] There is one very similar preserved in the Museum of the Hotel Cluny at Paris. But on this vehicle M. Roubo remarks, “I see no beauty nor grace in the voiture à l’Anglaise, but it is no doubt sufficient that the invention of this vehicle comes from England, to make all the world desire to have them, as if there existed some law which obliges us to be the servile imitators of a nation who is our rival, and which, although it is respectable, and admirable even, in some respects, can never be equal to us for works of taste in general, and above all in Coachbuilding.”

Whilst we may smile at M. Roubo’s jealousy, we must allow the general truth of what he says, viz., that in works in which taste reigns paramount, the French do usually surpass the English; and as regards Coachbuilding, although we have the name for superior vehicles, and deservedly so as regards quality, durability, and ease, the French are beyond us in applying tasteful painting, trimming, and decoration of all sorts.