CARRIAGES. 33 



introduction of that long string of vehicles which had their 

 origin in the coach and gig, and now include 



not to go into the endless varieties of foreign vehicles. The 

 most useful of all carriages in ante-railroad days was certainly 

 the mail phaeton. You could travel a hundred miles far quicker 

 in one with a pair posting than you could with four in a light 

 carriage, luggage to fit it, a drop box under the front seat, a 

 light leather-covered basket under the head when it was let 

 down, a light basket, tarpaulin covered, to hook on behind, a 

 light box along the dash, or splash board, to hold watch, pistols, 

 anything. Built with a perch, it was very strong, and would 

 not look like the modern ugly but useful phaeton, but for 

 travelling first rate. 



Straps similar to those upon which the gig was hung had 

 been in use for many years. The steel spring, however, was 

 now about to make its appearance, and towards the middle of 

 the century a coach which ran between Chelmsford and London 

 by way of Brentwood and Ilford, doing the journey in five hours, 

 is announced as ' a handsome Machine, with steel springs for 

 the ease of passengers and the Conveniency of the Country.' 

 It is safe to infer that at first springs were not used on public 

 coaches, and the invention may, therefore, be put down as prior 

 to the year 1754, though unless Hogarth was out in his draw- 

 ing of ' The Country Inn Yard' (1755) coaches without springs 

 lingered after the introduction of the ' handsome Machine ' that 

 went to the capital of Essex. 



1 The word ' drag ' is often employed as if it represented a distinct type of 

 vehicle. A drag, however, is merely a slang name for a gentleman's coach. 



D 



