THE INTRODUCTION OF CARRIAGES 5 



in their magnificent tomb in the little Berkshire 

 village chnrcli of Eisham, beside the Thames. 

 He owned a carriage in 156G. 



The jirogressive age of Elizabeth now opens. 

 In 1564, six years after her accession, she was using 

 a carriage l^rought over from Holland by a certain 

 William Boonen, himself a Hollander. Boonen, 

 indeed, became her Majesty's coachman, but his 

 services cannot often have been required, for, if 

 we are to believe Elizabeth's own words to the 

 Erench Ambassador in 1568, driving in these early 

 carriages, innocent of springs, must have been as 

 uncomfortable as a journey in a modern builder's 

 cart or an ammunition- waggon would be. When 

 his Excellency waited upon her, she w^as still 

 suffering " aching pains, from being knocked 

 about in a coach driven too fast a few days 

 before." 



Little wonder, then, that the great Queen used 

 her coach only when occasions of State demanded. 

 She journeyed to her palace at Greenwich by 

 water, between Greenwich and her other palace 

 of Eltham on horseback, and to Nonsuch and 

 Hampton Court and on her many country pro- 

 gresses in like manner, resorting only to wheels 

 with advancing years. How bad were even the 

 roads esj)ecially repaired for her coming may 

 be judged from a contemporary description of 

 her journey along that "new highway" whose 

 " perfect evenness " is the theme of the writer. 

 " Her Majesty left the coach only once, while 

 the hinds and the folk of a base sort lifted it on 



