CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



thus travelled 400 miles in three days, resting 

 during the two intermediate nights. But it must 

 not be supposed that speed like this was attained 

 on all occasions. At the commencement of the 

 religious troubles in the reign of Charles I. when 

 matters of the utmost importance were debated 

 between the king and his northern subjects, it 

 uniformly appears that a communication from 

 Edinburgh to London, however pressing might be 

 the occasion, was not answered in less than a fort- 

 night. And even till the last century was pretty 

 far advanced, the ordinary riding-post between 

 London and Edinburgh regularly took a week to 

 the journey. 



In consequence of the inattention of our ances- 

 tors to roads, and the wretched state in which 

 these were usually kept, it was long before coach- 

 ing of any kind came much into fashion. Though 

 wheeled vehicles of various kinds were in use 

 among the ancients, the close carriage or coach is 

 of modern invention. The name coach is most 

 probably from the French couc/ier, to lie, as if 

 signifying originally a litter or carriage in which 

 you may recline. The earliest record found by 

 Beckmann relates to about the year 1280, when 

 Charles of Anjou entered Naples, and his queen 



rode in a caretta apparently a small but highly 

 decorated car, from which the modern charet 

 or chariot was derived, as well as other vehicles 

 named chares and chariettes. It is believed 

 that most of these vehicles had broad wheels, 

 the only form suited for the wretched roads 

 of those ages ; and it is certain that all those 

 of early date were open overhead. Many 

 of the coaches used by the continental princes 

 and nobles in the loth century were closed 

 only to this extent that they had canopies 

 supported by ornamental pillars, and curtains 

 of cloth, silk, or leather, which could be drawn 

 easily aside. A glass coach, or coach with glass 

 windows, is specially mentioned as being used 

 by an Infanta of Spain in 1631. The traces of 

 the coaches were at first made of rope ;. 

 those only belonging to the highest personages 

 were made of leather. It is believed to have been 

 in the time of Louis XIV. that coaches were first 

 suspended by leathern straps, in order to insure 

 ease of motion. 



The first coach ever seen in England is said to 

 have been one made in 1555 by Walter Rippon 

 for the Earl of Rutland ; and in 1 564, the same 

 builder made a showy vehicle for Queen Elizabeth. 



State Carriage of Queen Elizabeth : 

 (From Hoefnagel's print of Nonsuch Palace). 



Later in the reign, the royal carriages had sliding 

 panels, so that the queen could shew herself to her 

 loving subjects whenever she desired. During 

 the closing years of Elizabeth's reign, and early in 

 the 1 7th century, the use of pleasure-carriages 

 extended rapidly in England. The coaches had 

 first to struggle against the opposition of the boat- 

 men on the rivers, and then against that of the 

 sedan owners and bearers ; but they gradually 

 came into very general use. Lord Grey de Wilton, 

 who died in 1593, introduced a coach into Ireland, 

 the first ever used in that country. One was 

 introduced into Scotland we rather think from 

 France about the year 1571. It belonged to the 

 famous Secretary Maitland of Lethington, who, 

 during the civil war between the adherents of 

 Mary and those of her son James, made a journey 

 in that vehicle from Edinburgh Castle, which 

 he was holding out for the queen, to Niddry 

 in West Lothian, for the purpose of consulting 

 with some others of her friends the first time, it 

 is believed, that a close carriage was ever used in 

 Scotland. Fynes Morison, who wrote in the year 

 1617, speaks of coaches as recently introduced, 

 and still rare in' Scotland. 



In a pamphlet called The Grand Concern of 

 England Explained, published in 1673, the writer 



436 



very gravely attempts to make out that the intro- 

 duction of coaches was ruining the trade of Eng- 

 land. The following is an example of his mode 

 of reasoning : ' Before the coaches were set up,, 

 travellers rode on horseback, and men had boots, 

 spurs, saddles, bridles, saddle-cloths, and good 

 riding-suits, coats and cloaks, stockings and hats, 

 whereby the wool and leather of the kingdom were 

 consumed. Besides, most gentlemen, when they 

 travelled on horseback, used to ride with swords, 

 belts, pistols, holsters, portmanteaus, and hat-cases, 

 which in these coaches they have little or nc 

 occasion for. For when they rode on horseback, 

 they rode in one suit, and carried another to wear 

 when they came to their journey's end, or lay by 

 the way ; but in coaches they ride in a silk suit, 

 with an Indian gown, with a sash, silk stockings, 

 and the beaver hats men ride in, and cany no 

 other with them. This is because they escape the 

 wet and dirt which on horseback they cannot 

 avoid ; whereas in two or three journeys on horse- 

 back, 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 

 manufacture.' 



Arguments of a similar illogical nature are 

 now used in reference to almost every proposed 



