MODERN CARRIAGES. 383 



ing the middle seat, do not profess to provide such accom- 

 modation as ladies expect. 



Private omnibuses are now essential to all large country 

 establishments, and are made of many sizes, and with varied 

 accommodation, from the light one that carries four persons 

 under cover, to the capacious two or four horse carriage. Of 

 late years the proportions and lines have been greatly refined, 

 and the weight reduced, and although they can never aspire to 

 be elegant carriages, they have gradually become much more 

 agreeable to look at than was the case formerly. With high front 

 wheels, low step to enter the body, spring-lock to the door, 

 external side-lamps that light the interior from the outside, ven- 

 tilators, hat and umbrella straps and nets, pockets, cupboard, 

 &c., they now combine the utmost accommodation with the 

 minimum of weight. 



Broughams are of all sorts and sizes, from the smallest 

 miniature which carries two small persons inside and two smaller 

 ones on the driving-seat, and are drawn by a cob of fifteen 

 hands, to the large, roomy, or weighty ones that a~re used in 

 the royal establishment with a pair of coach-horses. 



The medium-size single broughams carry two persons inside 

 and two servants on the driving-seat. 



Circular-fronted broughams carry three inside, the third 

 person being carried in the bow-window that projects from the 

 body over the back part of the boot, and forms a segment of a 

 circle, allowing the bent windows to slide over one another. 



Double broughams carry four persons inside and have 

 straight fronts, generally with one large window, which may be 

 lowered if desired, and two smaller front side windows, which 

 are almost invariably fixed. 



In many establishments of the nobility and gentry, when a 

 brougham is kept, it is suspended on an iron perch, with under 

 and C springs and leather braces, giving greater ease to the 

 motion of the carriage, and suppressing the vibration that is 

 inseparable from carriages hung on elliptic springs. 



Sociables are low- hung carriages of angular form that have 



