CARRIAGES. 



35 



illustrates a violent alteration and a new departure in carriage- 

 building, eccentrically expressed no doubt, but still noteworthy. 

 Till almost up to this time, very little in the way of springs had 

 been known. Travellers must have suffered sorely from the 

 jolts necessarily incidental to a journey, particularly in days 

 when roads were wretched, but as a rule they had put up with 

 it, not supposing that improvement was possible. Thus, indeed, 

 people do put up with things. Travellers, doubtless, supposed 

 that if any alteration for the better could be made in the 

 system of travelling, those whose business it was to find carriages 

 and horses would point and lead the way ; these gentry for their 

 part were quite contented to let things be as they were so 

 long as travellers stood it and they had no alternative but to 

 stand it, that is to say, to ride in the public or private vehicle, 

 as the case might be, with which the makers provided 

 them. 



As a general rule, the fact of the high-flier apart, the Eng- 

 lish carriage was remarkable for its sturdiness and solidity 

 for what in the present day would be considered its clumsiness. 

 A state carriage, ordered by George III. in 1762, was, in 1873, 

 on view at South Kensington, and was among the most remark- 

 able examples of carriage-building ever seen. The weight of 

 the vehicle was nearly four tons, its length 24 feet (pole 12 feet 

 in addition), width 8 ft. 3 in., and height 12 feet. It was in 

 every way as elaborate as it could be made, a circumstance 

 which will be understood when it is said that of the total cost, 

 7,6527. i6s. <3\d.^ the largest item, 2,5007., went to the carver. 

 The whole bill included : 



