548 



Carriage, them. 



CARRIAGE. 



royal patent was granted to 

 Insive nrivileee for fifteen 



Accordingly, a ^ _ 

 him, conferring an exclusive privilege 

 years, of keeping coaches to run betwixt Edinburgh 

 and Leith. (Privy Seal Record, Book 79, p. 225.) 

 It would appear from this, that it was only for these 

 towns that coaches were then intended. Coaches and 

 six were introduced into England in 1619, by Villiers, 

 Duke of Buckingham, (Northumberland Household 

 Book, p. 448; Wilson's Life of James, p. 130) ; this 

 was considered such a piece o'f vanity, that the Duke 

 of Northumberland appeared immediately afterwards 

 with eight horses in his coach by way of ridicule. 



The first coach that was seen in Sweden, was ta- 

 ken there the end of the sixteenth century by John 

 of Finland, upon his return from England (Dalin, 

 Geschichte den reic/is Schweden, ubersetzt von Dah- 

 nert, iii. i. p. 390 and 4-02). Public carriages were 

 first introduced to let for hire in France in 1650, by 

 Nicholas Sauvage. These carriages took their name 

 from the residence of the proprietor, who lived in a 

 house called Hotel St Fiacre, and were thence called 

 Jiacres. Others followed Sauvage in this employ- 

 ment, and obtained licences for btting carriages upon 

 paying a certain sum of money. Among others, 

 Charles Vilerme paid into the king's treasury 15,000 

 livres, for the exclusive privilege of keeping coaches 

 for hire within the city of Paris. Shortly after this 

 coaches were kept, such as the hackney coaches of 

 the present day, standing at certain places in diffe- 

 rent streets, to go from one part of the city to ano- 

 ther. The namejiacre became soon applied solely 

 to them ; the appellation of Carosses de Remise being 

 given to those that were kept at the proprietors 

 houses, and let out to hire for a certain time. And in 

 1662, carriages with four horses were kept for the 

 purpose of carrying people to the different palaces at 

 which the court might be. These went under the 

 name of Failures pour la Suite de la Cour. Regu- 

 lations were established by the police to secure the 

 safety of public carriages, and marks affixed upon 

 them whereby they might be known. A full histo- 

 ry of the Parisian fiacres, and the orders respecting 

 them, may be seen in Continuation du traite de la Po- 

 lice, Paris, 1738, fol. p. 4-35 ; and also Hist, de la 

 Ville de Paris, par Sauval, i. p. 192. Coaches to 

 be let for hire were first established in London in 

 1625, amounting at that time to twenty. These 

 stood at the principal inns, and were called hackney 

 coaches, from their being first used to go betwixt 

 London and Hackney. Ten years after they became 

 so numerous, that Charles I. issued an order limiting 

 their number. In 1637, there were in London and 

 Westminster fifty coaches. In 1652 their number 

 had increased to two hundred. In 1654-, there were 

 three hundred. In 1661, four hundred were licen- 

 sed at 5 sterling annually for each. In 1694-, they 

 were limited to seven hundred. In 1715, to eight 

 hundred. In 1768, there were one thousand ; in 

 1802, they were increased to 1100; and they are now 

 considerably above that number. Hackney coaches 

 were first established at Edinburgh in 1673, at which 

 time there were twenty. (Arnot's Hist, of Edinb. 

 p. 597. ) In 1679, at the rebellion, the hackney coach 

 horses of Edinburgh were employed to draw the royal 

 artillery. (Maitland's History, p. 338 ; Wodrow's 



History, vol. ii. p. 52.) In 1752 they had decreased Carriage; 

 to fourteen, and in 1778 to nine. (Arnot's History, '^^-Y^*' 

 p. 598.) Since that period, however, in consequence 

 of the improvements in the various streets, whereby 

 their use has become more general, the great enlarge- 

 ment of the city, and the increasing \vealth of the 

 inhabitants, their numbers have been gradually in- 

 creasing, till now there are very nearly one hun- 

 dred hackney coaches. Fiacres were first introdu- 

 ced at Warsaw in 1778. In Copenhagen, about 

 the same time, there were one hundred hackney 

 coaches. (Haubers Beschreibung von Copenhagen, 

 p. 173.) There were in Madrid at that time from 

 Four to five thousand getitlemen's> carriages; (Twiss's 

 Travels through Spain and Portugal.) In Vienna, 

 three thousand gentlemen's carnages, and two hun- 

 dred hackney coaches. In 1663, coaches with wheels 

 were forbidden at Amsterdam, being considered de- 

 structive to the pavements ; ( Handvesten van Am- 

 sterdam, ii. p. 739,) but about 1775 their number 

 had increased so much, that there were twenty-five 

 thousand coach horses in the seven united provinces. 

 The following statements of the number of car- 

 riages in England, Scotland, and Wales, in 1807, the 

 progressive increase or decrease for the twenty years 

 preceding, with the number of carriages actually 

 made in 1804, 1805, 1806, and 1807, may be inter- 

 esting to our readers. They are taken from the Ap- 

 pendix to the R.eport from the Committee on the 

 Acts now in force regarding the use of broad wheels, 

 and on the preservation of the turnpike roads and 

 high ways of the kingdom, printed by order of the 

 House of Commons, 2d May 1809 ; and are there- 

 fore completely authentic documents. We also sub- 

 join a statement of the number of four and two 

 wheeled carriages charged with the duty in Scotland, 

 from 25th March 174-7, when the duty commenced, 

 until the present time ; distinguishing, as far as 

 possible, the private from the public carriages ; and 

 also the number of taxed carts from 1798, the period 

 from which the duty upon them commenced. 

 An account of the number of Wheel Carriages in 

 England and Scotland respectively, distinguishing 

 Gentlemen's Carriages, Stage Coaches, and other 

 Carriages let to hire, for the year 1806, ended the 

 5th April 1807- 



Error of two in the printed Report. 



