28 DRIVING. 



1 60 1 and the company which was accustomed then to meet. 

 One plea in favour of the bill was, that the watermen in the 

 river lost custom when people travelled by road. The bill was, 

 however, rejected on the second reading, and if there were no 

 better argument against it than that of the watermen, this was 

 obviously just, for with equal pertinence the coach-builders 

 might have complained that their trade was injured by men 

 who plied for hire in boats. 



On this head much might be added as to the mischievous 

 effects of taxing carriages in these days, for this is a tax on the 

 products of industry which greatly restrains its development, 

 reduces the number of skilled artisans who would be employed, 

 and renders precarious the employment of those actually en- 

 gaged. 



The defeat of the motion inspired new vigour into the 

 little class which may be spoken of as the coaching men of the 

 early seventeenth century, and in 1610 an enterprising person 

 hit on the germ of that idea the development of which has 

 filled the streets with cabs and omnibuses, and covered the 

 world with railways. All that is known of him is that he was 

 a Pomeranian ; what he did was to establish a line of coaches 

 and waggons to run between Edinburgh and Leith, and about 

 the year named he obtained a Royal patent, allowing him the 

 sole right of the running for fifteen years. The sort of coach 

 which the Pomeranian put on the road may be judged by an 

 engraving published by Visscher at Antwerp in 1616. The 

 wheels are very broad, the tires stout, and so far as can be 

 made out there are no springs. There seems to be room inside 

 for six or eight persons. It is covered by a sort of canopy with 

 the ends hanging down over the sides of the coach the matt- 

 rial cannot be made out. A baggage rack is shown, let down 

 much after the fashion of the back of a contemporary dog-cart. 

 It must have been a terribly heavy vehicle, especially of course 

 on such roads as those which it was doomed to travel, and yet 

 it is drawn by only one horse, which moreover is ridden by the 

 driver if the term may be employed. What makes the picture 



