ENGLISH STAGE-COACHES IN FRANCE. 30-5 



the luxury of carriages was so universal that 

 riding among the young men was confined 

 entirely to the manege, to hunting, and to 

 their military life. A change of dress had 

 indeed necessitated a chane^e in their mode 

 of conveyance. The military costume was no 

 longer that of the Court ; their boots and 

 cloaks had disappeared, except when with their 

 regiments ; and the knots of ribbons, the short 

 sleeves, the long ruffles, the lace, fringe, and 

 embroidery, and the flowing periwigs now 

 general, were perfectly incompatible with 

 an evening drive from the Louvre to the 

 Marais. 



I may here remark that the first Englisli 

 sta2:e-coach seen in France was launched at 

 Dieppe in the month of October, 1816. The 

 horses being put to, Mr. Plant, of London, a 

 coachman of about eighteen stone weight, and 

 a real John Bull, mounted the box, and as- 

 tonished the inhabitants as much by his dexterity 

 in cracking his whip as by the bulk of his per- 

 son for the burden of his horses. Away he 

 started for St. Denis amid the various grimaces 

 of the populace. 



A company of London proprietors have 



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