MODERN CARRIAGES. 371 



William Cook, he worked out the idea of a comfortable, low, 

 elegant, and stylish carriage which he could drive with a pair 

 of ponies of about fourteen hands ; and many of our readers 

 may have seen engravings, lithographs, and prints with a 

 portrait of the Prince driving his favourite ponies. If a Prince 

 Regent, or King, could drive and liked the amusement or 

 exercise, others less exalted in station might do the same with- 

 out loss of dignity, and they accordingly followed the King's 

 example. 



Two-wheeled dog-carts had long been used by sportsmen 

 when going out for a day's shooting, to convey themselves, ser- 

 vants, dogs, and guns to their destination ; but with improved 

 roads, and the establishment of railways, they were put to 

 many other uses, and were adopted for carrying persons with 

 comfort and safety, rather than for the special conveyance of 

 dogs. 



The use of lancewood for shafts offered an excellent elastic 

 material to increase the easy run of these vehicles. The'; 

 various patterns of bodies might be reckoned by hundreds, 

 almost by thousands, each maker adopting one of his own, 

 which differed in some respects from his neighbour's. About 

 fifty years ago, the fulcrum shafts were patented by Fuller 

 of Bath and George Hayman of Exeter, and applied to many 

 two-wheeled carriages. Their chief aim was to suppress 

 the jolting (or knee action, as it was called) caused by the 

 rise and fall of the shafts at each step of the horse, and the 

 plan is now adopted for nearly all two-wheeled carriages when 

 the construction permits the application, so that such carriages 

 now run much more pleasantly than those of the olden time. 

 Many vehicles of this type are made of small size, hung low, 

 and are much driven by ladies and even by children. They 

 are balanced, according to the load they carry (two or four), 

 by allowing the body to travel back or forward on polished 

 iron slides fixed on the shafts, and regulated by a screw with 

 crank handle behind. Where the fulcrum shafts are used, the 

 lever arm acts on the seats only, instead of on the whole body. 



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