S46 ON DRAUGHT. 



a second pole was generally affixed to the axletree, so as to have a pair of horses 

 attached to each pole, and the axletrees themselves were always made nearly as 

 long as the whole width occupied by the horses. 



They appear to have had light chariots for more domestic purposes, and four- 

 wheeled carriages for conveyance of heavy goods ; and certainly King Priam, 

 when he went to the Grecian camp to ransom the body of his son Hector, 

 travelled with some degree of comfort and luxury: he rode himself in a " beauti- 

 ful new-built travelling carriage," drawn by favourite horses, while the treasures, 

 intended as a ransom, were conveyed in a four-wheeled waggon drawn by 

 mules. All these details, as well as the mode of harnessing the horses, which 

 operation, it must be confessed, was performed by Priam himself and his sons, 

 are fully described in the twenty-fourth book of the Iliad. 



That Homer was well acquainted with the construction of the spoked wheel 

 running freely upon the axletree, and, perhaps, even with the mode of hanging 

 the body of the carriage upon straps for springs, in the same manner as the 

 public coaches are to this day in many parts of France, and, till lately, even in 

 the neighbourhood of Paris, is evident from the passage in which he describes 

 Juno's chariot. He there says, while Juno was putting the golden bits to the 

 horses, Hebe fastened on the wheels to the iron axles. '' These wheels had 

 eight brazen spokes, and the felloes were of gold, and the tires of brass.'' — 

 " The seat was fastened with gold and silver cords." 



This, of course, gives us Homer's ideas of perfection in a chariot. 



All the epithets which could convey ideas of swiftness, were applied to these 

 chariots and to the horses, but we have no positive information as regards the 

 real velocity with which they would travel : as roads were scarce, and probably 

 at best merely tracks, much could not be expected from vehicles constructed 

 under such circumstances ; the wheels were small, from twenty to thirty inches 

 diameter, and all the parts of the chariots excessively heavy, so as to resist the 

 repeated shocks to which they were subject. 



The chariots represented upon the Frieze of the Parthenon, before alluded 

 to, and which is probably upwards of 2200 years old, are very light in theh 

 construction, and only want springs to be called gigs. 



The advancement of all the branches of the mechanical arts lias necessarily 

 introduced many improvements in the details of the construction of the wheel 

 itself, as well as in that- of the axle and the rest of the carriage, and by this 

 means no doubt increased very greatly the use and advantage of it ; hut it is a 

 remarkable fact, that these improvements have been confined exclusively to the 

 workmanship and mechanical detail, and that the principle has remained exactly 

 the same, and has not even received any addition during this immense lapseof time. 



Upwards of 3000 years ago, the wheels appear to have been independent of 

 each other, and running upon fixed axles ; we can say no more of the most im- 

 proved wheel of the most finished carriage of the present day. 



We are far from intending to cast any slight upon modern invention, or to com- 

 pare the groaning axletrees and creaking wheels of the ancients with the noiseless 

 Collinge's axles of the nineteenth century ; but truth compels us to acknowledge 

 that a period of thirty centuries, more than half the time which is supposed to 

 have elapsed since the creation of the world, has produced no radical change nor 

 brought into action any new principle in the use of the wheel asapplied to carriages. 



The particular form and construction of the wheel, as well as of all the other 

 parts of the carriage, however, admit of great variety, and the draught is mate- 

 rially affected by their variation. We shall, therefore, after examining the action 

 of wheels in general, describe the mode of construction now adopted, and then 

 endeavour to point out the advantages and disadvantages of the various forms 

 which have been given to the different parts of it. 



