The Coach of 1830, 



531 



capable of being made very tasteful and expensive through the perfection of a variety of 

 details, it may also be built in a plain utilitarian style, at a moderate cost. 



Wagonettes when first brought into use were uncomfortable ; because, to make them 

 light, the seats were made too narrow and the backs too low. For comfort, the seats should 

 not be less than 18 inches wide and the backs 14 inches high, with plenty of breadth for 

 the knees ; finishing at either end with a graceful curve, which will afford four circular corner 

 seats. A brake is almost indispensable in hilly countries, it lightens the harness by rendering 

 breeching unnecessary, and saves horses much labour in going down hill. 



THE COACH. 

 The royal family and a few very noble houses still retain the capacious coach, which is 



STATE-COACH. 



not complete without at least a pair of horses nearly, if not quite, 17 hands high, with superb 

 action, a portly coachman, and two gigantic footmen. The late Emperor of the French had 

 in his stud, to draw his bullet-proof coach, several pairs of English horses, approaching 18 

 hands in height. The cost of these vehicles is something fabulous, their duration equal to 

 several generations, but their market value — when by chance the contents of the coach-house 

 of some many-acred, long-descended deceased peer comes under the hammer — something under 

 the original cost of the plate-glass windows and horsehair-stuffed cushions, the wood and iron are 

 so firmly put together, that the expense of breaking up such a coach, like a man-of-war, is almost 

 more than the value of the material. 



In the beginning of the present century these vast, costly, unwieldy vehicles were to be 

 met at races, on nomination days of county elections, assizes, and every gathering of country 

 magnates in every county, drawn by six horses, at present they are scarcely to be found out 

 of London ; and, for ordinary use, royalty seems to prefer, when the weather permits, some- 

 thing less ponderous and gorgeous — a barouche, a laudau, or a brougham ; but high sheriffs 



