Macadam tije Refok.vf.k of Roads. 529 



crosses with blood-horses the Cleveland bay was improved into the modern blood barouche- 

 horse. These changes in the direction of less expensive carriages have taken place for the 

 benefit of classes who have risen to undreamed-of comfort and luxury with the progress of the 

 manufactures and trade of the country. 



But Macadam was the great reformer of the trade. Before his time paved mail-coach 

 roads and highways had all but abolished the six horses attended by a bevy of running 

 footmen, and occasionally supplemented by a team of oxen, which were required in the reigns 

 of the two first Georges to draw a coach through muddy roads axle deep. Arthur Young 

 devotes pages of his " Agricultural Tours at the Close of the Eighteenth Century," to pro- 

 tests against the abominable condition of the roads, and relates how, when journeying to 

 Preston, he had to hire two men to support his gig. Macadam, by the even surface with 

 which he replaced jolting stone pavement and miles of deep ruts, rendered it possible to 

 dispense with the ton weight of wood and iron previously required to resist the shocks of a 

 journey along the main roads of the country. 



Macadam's works were followed by railways, which reduced stage-coaches, just as they 

 had reached perfection, to the value of old materials ; destroyed the professors of four-in- 

 hand, and finally abolished those luxurious posting chariots, without which, before the days 

 of the iron horse, no country gentleman's coach-house was complete. 



The last coaches drawn by six horses, four being in hand, the leading pair conducted 

 by a postillion, preceded and followed by a pair of outriders with harness-bridles on their 

 horses, which were supposed to be there ready to take the place if any of the team were 

 disabled, all the mounted servants wearing on one arm armorial badges, were to be seen on 

 the racecourses of Doncaster, York, and Chester, about the time the Liverpool and Manchester 

 Railway was opened, while racing was still a county institution. 



The sociable landau is the latest outcome of the advances towards smooth roads and 

 light vehicles. The design is very old, and, in a ponderous shape, was in use at least at 

 the commencement of the present century — a double-seated coach, calculated to hold from 

 four to six inside, and so contrived as to be converted, not without a good deal of trouble, 

 into an open carriage. When of the chariot shape, it was called a landaulet. 



By abolishing the heavy under-carriage with the perch, by the ingenious use of japanned 

 leather of a size, softness, and quality unknown before the repeal of the excise and customs 

 duties on leather, a carriage has been produced with as much internal accommodation as 

 the old-fashioned coach, at about half the cost, of about half the weight, and with such im- 

 provements in mechanical arrangements of the top that it can be opened or closed with 

 very great facility. 



These sociable landaus are made in several sizes, up to the demands of the most 

 numerous families, and fitted, if required, with a dicky behind, for the use, in the country, 

 of the valet and lady's maid. They are also cut down to the weight of one horse ; but 

 they do not look so well, are not so neat as a brougham,- and are much less durable. With 

 a pair of horses less expensive than a heavier carriage requires, the sociable landau is a 

 convenient and agreeable vehicle for town or country, for winter or summer. The fittings 

 ot the movable head requires the hands of a good mechanic, and should be of the very 

 best materials. 



These carriages are made sufficiently near the ground, with an automatic step apparatus, 

 to dispense with a second servant, if desired ; but they are more complete with a page 

 or footman. They require more careful cleaning and attention than a brougham. 

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