532 The Book of the Horse. 



of counties are expected to provide a coacli, as well as a trumpeter and javelin men, to receive 

 the judges of assize, v A firm in Long Acre makes it a business to job coaches and four-horse 

 harness to these splendid annuals. 



Lord Campbell, in his "Lives of the Chief Justices," tells that (in 1734) Mr. Attorney-General 

 Ryder always rode from his house in Chancery Lane to his villa at Streatham in his coach 

 and six. After his death in 1756 as Lord Chief Justice, just as the patent for his peerage 

 was being prepared, his family had a quarrel with Lord Mansfield about the transfer of the 

 dead judge's state coach at a valuation. Lord Campbell adds, " The Lord Chancellor's 

 state coach is still transferred to his successors," 



THE CHARIOT. 



The full dress chariot is so brilliant a part of a Court presentation and the Court dress 

 of a lady, that it is likely long to survive, not only in great families, where the use descends 

 with the liveries and coat of arms, but with their imitators, the noiiveaux riches of to-day, who 

 will possibly be in the " upper ten " of to-morrow. The posting chariot, that exquisite triumph 

 of the coachmakcr's mechanical art, is almost as much out of date as a sedan chair. A few 

 survive in the possession of maiden ladies of wealth and unchangeable opinions. With the 

 posting chariot departed a host of minor and major posting vehicles — the britzska, the drosky, &c. 

 Charles Dickens, writing to Mr. John Forster, in 1843, when preparing for his first journey 

 to Italy, describes how he found, in an obscure corner of the pantechnicon, "a poor old shabby 

 devil of a coach," which he finally bought for .^45. "As for comfort, it is about the size 

 of your library, with night-lamps and day-lamps, and pockets and imperials, and leather cellars, 

 and the most extraordinary contrivances. When you see it you will roar at it, and then 

 proclaim it 'perfectly brilliant, my dear fellow!'" When in Switzerland he met the late 

 Lord Vernon, " travelling about in an extraordinary carriage, where you touch a spring, and 

 a bed appears ; another spring, and a chair flies out ; another spring discovers a pantry and 

 a closet of pickles." Such also was the travelling-carriage of Dr. Darwin, the friend of Priestley, 

 poet, philosopher, and prophet of steamboats and locomotives. The post-carriage of the 

 Emperor Napoleon L has long been one of the trophies of Madame Tussaud's Exhibition. 



THE BAROUCHE. 



The barouche is a fashionable carriage for the summer season. Of late years it has been 

 to a great extent superseded by the modern laudau, which is as a rule lighter, more comprehensive, 

 and can be used at all seasons of the year. The driving seat is intended for a coachman 

 and footman to sit together, as the footman if behind would be unpleasantly placed, looking 

 down on and listening to the conversation of the sitters within. The barouche, when the 

 head is thrown back and the knee-flap elevated, will hold four or six persons inside ; but in 

 wet weather, when it is closed, only two or three can be accommodated. The most fashionable 

 barouches are on C springs, but they are also made with elliptic springs. Whether large or 

 small, they always require a pair of horses. 



The barouche is eminently suited for park display, with two great blood-horses in rich 

 harness, stepping right up to their curb-chains, an imposing coachman and footman on the 

 box, and a lady reclining almost at full length, displaying a costume light and diaphanous, 

 or velvet and fur, according to the season. On visits to Ascot Heath or Doncaster town 

 moor, or in the country anywhere, the barouche may be properly drawn b\- four horses, with 

 private postillions —what the French call a la Dauiuont. 



