246 THE COACHING ERA 



the pattern of horse carriages, no matter how greatly 

 the motive power might differ. 



Looking back, it seems surprising that motor-cars 

 should have tarried so long after the railways, for, but 

 for an Act of Parliament, which raised the turnpike 

 dues for steam carriages to prohibitive heights, they 

 would probably have preceded railways. 



So far back as 1800 inventors had turned their atten- 

 tion to the subjeft, and steam carriages of one kind or 

 another were put on the road from time to time. 

 Walter Handcock, who in 1836 had three steam omni- 

 buses running between Paddington and the city, had 

 a great idea of running a regular service to Brighton and 

 back. Even earlier, from February to June 1831 a 

 steam carriage ran four times a day between Cheltenham 

 and Gloucester. Colonel Maceroni advertised that he 

 would take passengers in his new invention out to 

 Harrow and give them a good dinner into the bargain. 

 His steam carriages went on an average of twenty miles 

 an hour, and for a time carried passengers between 

 Paddington and the Bank. 



Sir Goldsworthy Gurney, who lost a fortune over 

 his attempts to perfed the new mode of transport, 

 once had the Duke of Wellington for a passenger, but 

 even such august patronage did not popularize the 

 new innovation. Steam carriages terrified the country 

 people, who, when they conveniently could, stoned the 

 inventor, and wrecked his machinery, being firmly 

 convinced that it was the innovation of his Satanic 

 Majesty himself. 



