MODERN CARRIAGES. 349 



So great a fascination did the art of four-horse driving at 

 this time possess for gentlemen of the upper classes, that many 

 practised it under the expert and experienced drivers of mail 

 and stage coaches, and often ended by excelling these pro- 

 fessionals in rapid, skilful, and exact driving, and knowledge 

 of the habits, tempers, and qualities of the teams, so that their 

 establishments of horses and carriages derived many advantages 

 from the knowledge they had acquired on the road. 



Hobson greatly improved the two-wheel gigs of his time, 

 and Tilbury invented the pretty vehicle that bears his name, 

 and was greatly in fashion among the young men. 



The travelling carriages of the nobility and gentry had 

 received great attention, and had been immensely improved, 

 so much so, that the best of them were used for very long 

 journeys through England and Scotland, and across the 

 continent of Europe from Calais to Rome, Calais to Vienna 

 or other distant capitals, requiring only the renewal of the 

 worn iron tires of the wheels, and new soling the drag- 

 shoes as they became worn by the contact with the road. 



When Her Majesty and the late Prince Consort built a 

 castle for themselves in the highlands of Scotland, they had 

 still nearly a hundred miles of road to travel from the nearest 

 railway station at Aberdeen. The Royal travelling carriages 

 were old but sound, and it was not worth while to build new 

 ones that might not long be wanted : accordingly the then 

 Crown Equerry (the late George Lewis, Esq.) would year by 

 year have the old vehicles carefully overhauled by the most 

 trusted and careful of the Court coachmakers of his day. A 

 number of men, equivalent to the weights to be carried on the 

 journey, were placed inside the body and on the outside seats ; 

 they rocked and swayed the carriage up and down, to test to 

 the utmost the steel springs, they examined the leather braces, 

 and the strapping, the steps, doors, glasses, blinds, and all the 

 multitude of etceteras that might fail on the road. Exact 

 lists were made on the spot of every large and small repair 

 that was needed, the drag-shoes were put in their places to 



