MODERN CARRIAGES. 355 



considered they could well set their clocks by the arrival of 

 the coach from London. 



The box-seat next the coachman was considered a place 

 of honour, generally reserved for some local magnate, if it 

 was known that he intended to travel by the coach. Fre- 

 quent contact and conversation with highly-educated gentlemen 

 was a training to these coachmen, softening and refining their 

 rougher natures, and polishing off their angularities of character ; 

 they were looked up to and consulted on many matters, 

 and the consideration bestowed on them as a class attracted 

 more cultivated men to the calling than would otherwise 

 have presented themselves. The isolation of the drivers 

 on the public conveyances of the Continent, while driving, 

 tended always to keep them among the peasant class, from 

 whom they came. At this time one of the travelling carriages 

 common on the roads of France was the heavy two- wheel 

 cabriolet, hung on C-springs and leather braces behind, and 

 carrying four persons inside under the hood ;--ihe luggage 

 was roped on a board behind, and the rate of travelling was 

 about four miles an hour. In Cornwall, not a very great 

 many years ago, the public carriages consisted of light one- 

 horse covered vans travelling at about the same rate. 



In France the through traffic on the high roads was carried 

 on by ' diligences ' and ' malle-postes,' the latter conveying the 

 mails, owned by companies under the patronage of the State, 

 starting from Paris and traversing the great roads to the frontiers 

 of Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain. The 

 diligences were huge heavy conveyances of a type totally 

 different from the English ones, which were unlike those of all 

 other countries as regards lightness, compactness, and general 

 arrangement of seats ; for whereas the English carriages had 

 most of their passengers outside, the continental ones placed 

 most of theirs inside. This arrangement was probably 

 adopted by reason of the greater equability of our climate, the 

 summer not being so hot, nor the winter so cold, as in most 

 continental states. 



