CARRIAGES. 481 



This price, in order that it may be justly appreciated, must be regarded 

 in connection with the class of men to whom it refers ; also it must be 

 considered in association with the facts — that workmen provide their 

 own tools, and that each man is confined to one particular species of 

 toil; that the members of every shop often borrow and as frequently 

 lend; and that every tradesman is educated to adopt various resources 

 Thus one instrument is often compelled to serve several uses. 



An ordinary carriage builder can generally command two' guineas a 

 week. That sum, however, does not fairly represent the earning of all 

 workmen, when viewed as members of one body. Most clever artificers 

 will not engage by the period ; but they prefer to be paid by the piece. 

 A person of no more than average talent, when employed at piece-work 

 on the ordinary run of jobs, can gain from two to three guineas by six 

 days' toil. Thus every man in the trade has a direct stimulus to im- 

 provement, the higher wages being a constant spur to excite the work- 

 people, none ■ but the better sort of whom are engaged on the more 

 remunerative labor. 



Then, of the many trades which the coachmaker employs, each must 

 be the perfection of its order. The upholstery must not be merely tacks 

 or tacking. All must be sewn with the stoutest thread, and nailed with 

 an intention that it should never loosen. The smith's work must be 

 forged with an exactitude which is little expected in the general sphere 

 of the anvil. The painting and the varnishing must be carried to the 

 refinement of possible finish. In short, the best of many opposite call- 

 ings must be united before a carriage manufactory can be instituted. 



The business which necessitates the junction of such adverse kinds of 

 perfection, of course cannot be conducted cheaply. The climax of ability 

 is a commodity which will always command a ready sale, and for which, 

 in every market, there is never a lack of bidders. He who wishes to 

 obtain it, must not, therefore, haggle about remuneration ; but be pre- 

 pared to meet its demands with liberality. That circumstance, taken in 

 conjunction with the expensive nature of all the materials he employs, 

 disables the coachmaker, who is anxious to do justice to his patron and 

 to himself, from producing a cheap article. 



A full dress coach or chariot, such as once were the only conveyances 

 permitted to approach St. James's Palace on a Drawing Room day, 

 cannot be properly made for a less sum than four hundred guineas; if 

 the taste of the customer should be very fastidious, either article may 

 cost seven or even eight hundred guineas. A state carriage must be 

 charged for according to its adornments, which can almost be carried to 

 any extent. 



The state carriage which was built to order for a particular monarch 



31 



