CARRIAGES & COACHES [Illustration] BY THE SAME AUTHOR BIOGRAPHICAL ROBERT DODSLEY: POET, PUBLISHER AND PLAYWRIGHT JOHN BASKERVILLE: A MEMOIR [with R. K. Dent] NOVELS THE PRISON WITHOUT A WALL THE SCANDALOUS MR. WALDO THE LITTLE GOD’S DRUM THE MAN APART PAMPHLETS THE DUST WHICH IS GOD 5000 A.D. CARRIAGES & COACHES THEIR HISTORY & THEIR EVOLUTION _By Ralph Straus_ FULLY ILLUSTRATED WITH REPRODUCTIONS FROM OLD PRINTS, CONTEMPORARY DRAWINGS & PHOTOGRAPHS LONDON: _Published by_ MARTIN SECKER _at Number Five John Street_ ADELPHI _mcmxii_ PRINTED BY WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD. PLYMOUTH [Illustration: _The State Coach of Great Britain_] To B. S. S. _Contents_ CHAPTER PAGE I. THE PRIMITIVE VEHICLE 17 II. THE AGE OF LITTERS 42 III. THE INTRODUCTION OF THE COACH 56 IV. INTERLUDE OF THE CHAIR 85 V. SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY INNOVATIONS 109 VI. EARLY GEORGIAN CARRIAGES 147 VII. THE WAR OF THE WHEELS 176 VIII. THE AGE OF TRANSITION 204 IX. INVENTIONS GALORE 227 X. MODERN CARRIAGES 255 INDEX 287 _List of Illustrations_ THE STATE COACH OF GREAT BRITAIN _Frontispiece_ TYPES OF PRIMITIVE CARTS _facing page_ 20 ASSYRIAN CHARIOT ” ” 22 CISIUM ” ” 30 CARPENTUM ” ” 30 PILENTUM ” ” 32 BENNA ” ” 32 _Fourteenth Century English Carriage_ ” ” 46 FOURTEENTH CENTURY REAPER’S CART ” ” 46 ELIZABETHAN CARRIAGES ” ” 70 NEAPOLITAN SEDAN-CHAIR ” ” 100 THE “SOCIAL PINCH” ” ” 104 SEDANS ” ” 104 COACH IN THE TIME OF CHARLES I ” ” 112 COACH IN THE TIME OF CHARLES II ” ” 112 EARLY FRENCH GIG ” ” 136 EARLY ITALIAN GIG ” ” 142 THE STATE CARRIAGE OF BAVARIA ” ” 148 THE DARNLEY CHARIOT ” ” 152 QUEEN ANNE’S PROCESSION TO THE CATHEDRAL OF S. PAUL ” ” 158 “THE CARRIAGE MATCH” ” ” 190 “PHAETONA, OR MODERN FEMALE TASTE” ” ” 196