374 DRIVING. 



or other sufficient and inevitable reason that cannot be turned 

 aside. 



The rough and heavy travelling and other carriages that pre- 

 ceded 1830 fell out of use as the new and better roads of 

 Me A dam were made. The mail and stage coaches had just 

 reached perfection in design, durability, lightness, and handi- 

 ness, when the introduction of railways literally drove them off 

 the high roads that seemed to have been made for them ; so 

 the gigs and phaetons, kept in large numbers by the London 

 bankers and merchants to drive to and from their suburban 

 houses, were driven off the roads by omnibuses, tramcars, and 

 suburban railways. 



The death of the late Prince Consort, and the withdrawal 

 of the Court from London, rendered the dress carriages of the 

 nobility almost useless ; but fortunately not altogether, for the 

 Royal State and dress carriages are still kept up for drawing- 

 rooms, levees, and State ceremonials as suitable appendages of 

 Royalty. Tr.e great nobles have also in many cases retained 

 or renewed theirs, to the delight of sightseers in London, when 

 they make their appearance in St. James's Park on their way 

 to and from drawing-rooms and levees. If the days are fine on 

 such occasions, these works of art are shown to advantage. 



The foreign ambassadors in London have latterly been 

 renewing their ceremonial carriages, notably those of Russia, 

 Germany, and Italy ; and the Royal dress carriages used by 

 Her Majesty and her guests in the procession to Westminster 

 Abbey on the Jubilee Thanksgiving Day were previously re- 

 novated, providing welcome employment to coachmakers and 

 their men after a long spell of trade depression. 



The depression in agriculture in England and Ireland, and 

 the reduction in the profits of trade and manufactures, have 

 also affected the use of carriages, more especially 'barouches.' 



These carnages had, by the firms of Peters & Sons, 

 Hooper & Co., and others, been brought to a perfection 

 hitherto unapproached, but in many cases they required special 

 horses to draw them. Reduced incomes, and the advent of 



