530 



The Book of the Horse. 



THE WAGONETTE. 



The wagonette is quite a modern invention, and did not come into general use until some 

 years after the International Exhibition of 185 1, although, according to the Report on the 

 Carriage Department of the Exhibition of 1862, "the first wagonette was built in 1846, 

 under the personal direction of the late Prince Consort." It is a combination of all the best 

 parts of the Irish inside car, the French sportsman's char a banc, the English brake, and the 

 modern stanhope phaeton; it may be constructed so as to suit one pony or one full-sized 

 horse, a pair of cobs, or a four-in-hand. It may be driven by a groom or a gentleman, to 

 convey, besides the driver and his companion on the box, either two, four, or six, sitting face 

 to face in pleasant converse, with two grooms hanging on spoon-like receptacles outside the 



WAGONETTE. 



door. It may be what is called "reversible," and converted into a stanhope phaeton; or, by 

 letting down hinged seats, into a foiirgon for luggage, or a wagon to bring home fodder from 

 a home farm. With the addition of a sort of cover, which may hang suspended from a pulley 

 in the coach-house, it may be turned into a comfortable omnibus. It may afford ample space 

 for the lockers for wine, ice, and all the provisions of a picnic, or to stow away the tackle 

 of a shooting or a fishing party. With the box-scat raised to the proper height, it forms a 

 most agreeable summer four-in-hand drag, in which none of the party are banished to seats 

 with their backs to the horses and their faces to the grooms ; and thus it is an excellent 

 vehicle for exercising old and practising young horses. Not least, it has the advantage of 

 being accessible to women, children, and lame or feeble men, without the necessity for any 

 special arrangement of steps or gymnastic feat in going in or going out over the wheels 

 Indeed, it is one of the most accessible of vehicles, while, with its well-proportioned wheels 

 and complete lock under, it is one of the easiest for horses to draw and to turn round. 



The wagonette is in fact, the perfection of a family country carriage ; and, although 



