ANNALS OF THE ROAD. 



tells us that ' divers great ladies made them coaches, and 

 rode in them up and down the countries to the great 

 admiration of all beholders.' The fashion soon spread ; 

 and Stowe adds, what is often true in the present day, 

 ' The world runs on wheels with many whose parents 

 were glad to go on foot' These coaches were heavy 

 and unwieldy, and probably bore some rough resemblance 

 to the state coaches still used occasionally in Court pro- 

 cessions. 



At this period there were but one or two main roads, 

 and these were infested by bands of robbers ; a fact which 

 made travelling in carriages much more insecure, as well 

 as more difficult, than performing the journey on horse- 

 back. 



The first hollow turning coach built for Oueen Eliza- 

 beth, by Walter Ripon, was nothing but a cart without 

 springs, covered over with a gorgeous canopy, and with 

 chairs or seats fixed in it. Ripon does not seem to have 

 greatly promoted coaching by his invention, for the 

 Queen suffered so much during her journey in his coach 

 when she went to open Parliament, that she would 

 never use it again. Consequently the coach went out of 

 fashion in London, though the county gentry seem to 

 have patronised it. 



The Queen's coachman, one Bonner, a Dutchman, 

 did a great deal in 1564 towards bringing coaches into 

 use; and his style of 'conveniency ' was greatly im- 

 proved upon by the Earl of Arundel in 1580. 



