The Park Phaeton. 535 



with "character" and breeding, in first-class condition and workmanhke harness, will do 

 very well. 



It should never be forgotten that no one takes any particular notice of a family 

 brougham — a sort of nursery on wheels — or any general practitioner's carriage, or in fact any 

 carriage specially selected for economy, utility, and capacity ; but a victoria, a mail phaeton, 

 or a park phaeton, are all carriages with " pretensions " — what the French call voitures dc luxe 

 — and look contemptible when you see them, as you sometimes do, with varnish dull, harness 

 rusty, and a man in shabby livery coat, with a cockade in his weather-beaten hat. 



The process of getting into the hind seat of a phaeton has been reduced to quite a 

 neat gymnastic feat by first-class grooms. Running after the phaeton to the near-side steps 

 at No. I, he springs with his left foot on the step, and stands straight on it ; at No. 2 he 

 brings his right leg out at right angles with his hip, and passes over the back rail on to the 

 seat ; and at No. 3 he elevates his left leg at right angles with his hip, and passes it over 

 the wheel, and takes his seat as regularly as a soldier presenting arms at the word of com- 

 mand. The off-side groom of course begins with the right foot. I noted the operation as 

 it was performed by the grooms of an officer of the Life Guards, an active member of two 

 four-horse clubs. 



I cannot give a more striking proof of the progress of the coachmaker's art than by two 

 of the woodcuts which illustrate this chapter. The one is a modern driving or mail phaeton, 

 copied from a picture by Mr. Alfred Corbould, painted for Major Stapylton, a Yorkshire 

 gentleman famous for the completeness of an extensive stud of hacks, hunters, harness, and 

 thorough-bred horses ; the other the favourite carriage of the Prince Regent, " the high-perch 

 phaeton." It was in a high-perch phaeton that Mr. Sampson Hanbury, the great brewer, 

 used to start from his mansion at Ware at five o'clock in the morning, drive his pair of 

 blood-horses to Spitalfields, there transact the business of his great brewery, and then, with 

 a fresh pair of nags, drive back to Ware in time to hunt the Puckcridge Hounds, of which 

 he was master. 



And yet Mr. Felton, from whose curious " treatise on carriages, comprehending coaches 

 chariots, phaetons, curricles, gigs, whiskeys," the picture of this hideous, dangerous, unme- 

 chanical vehicle is copied, says in his introduction, dated 1790: "The art of coachmaking 

 within this last century has arrived at a very high degree of perfection, with respect both 

 to the beauty, strength, and elegance of the machine. The consequence has been an increas- 

 ing demand for that comfortable conveyance, which, besides its common utility, has now be- 

 come a distinguishing mark of the taste and rank of the proprietor." Mr. Felton candidly 

 warns his readers that the " high-perch phaeton " is apt, unless carefully driven, " to turn 

 over in going round corners." 



THE PARK PHAETON. 



The park phaeton is essentially a lady's carriage, and one of the most elegant, whether 

 constructed for ponies or horses, of all the intermediate heights up to 15 hands 2 inches, a 

 height which should never be exceeded. The park phaeton is a carriage for town and 

 country, and may be seen in perfection, including the fair drivers, at cover side in the 

 pasture counties. It has a hood, which completely protects the fair driver and her one 

 companion from everything except a shower directly in front, but it carries no lamps. It 

 looks light, but runs heavy; it has no room for luggage of any kind, and must be attended 

 on by a single groom sitting on the rumble behind, who may be a very neat lad or an equally 



