[35] It was over a _calèche_ presented by the Chevalier de Grammont to Charles II, that the famous quarrel took place between Lady Castlemaine and Miss Stewart, afterwards the Duchess of Richmond. The ladies had been complaining that coaches with glass windows, but lately introduced, did not allow a sufficiently free display of their charms, whence followed the gift of a French _calèche_ which cost two thousand livres. When the queen drove out in it, both the ladies agreed with de Grammont that it afforded far better opportunities than a coach for showing off their figures, and both endeavoured to get the first loan of it. In the fierce quarrel that followed Miss Stewart came off the conqueror. [36] _Peter the Great._ By K. Waliszewski. Translated by Lady Mary Loyd. London, 1898. [37] _Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne._ John Ashton. London, 1883. [38] Originally, I understand, a fish-cart or lugger. [39] This well-known expression for a carriage is generally thought to have been used first by an American quaker later in the century. Ned Ward, however, would seem to have been its real inventor. [40] At this time M. Dessein used to advertise in the London papers. In _The Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser_ for July 21, 1767, is the following: “To be sold, at Calais, a Travelling _Vis-à-Vis_, built at Paris about a year and a half ago; very fit also to use in the towns on the Continent upon occasion; being varnished in the newest taste, and covered with an oiled case to preserve it from the weather in travelling, and requires nothing but a new set of wheels to be in perfect repair to make the tour of Europe. Enquire of Mr. Dessein, at the Hôtel D’Angleterre at Calais, with whom the lowest price is left.” [41] See next chapter. [42] This was the Mr. Francis Moore, of Cheapside, who in 1786 and 1790 obtained patents for two two-wheeled carriages. The second of these bore considerable resemblance to the hansom-cab of a later date. It had enormous wheels—higher, indeed, than the body of the carriage—and the driver sat on a small box-seat in front and at a level with the top of the roof. The door was at the back. [43] _Caricature History of the Georges_, Thomas Wright. London, n.d. [44] “The shape of the body,” says Bridges Adams, describing Coates’s carriage, “was that of a classic sea-god’s car, and it was constructed in copper. This vehicle was very beautiful in its outline, though disfigured by the absurdity of its ornamental work.” When Coates had a fall, Horace Smith, of _Rejected Addresses_ fame, seized the occasion to write a mock condoling poem. [45] For a detailed account of these mail-coaches the reader is referred to Mr. Charles Harper’s book, _Stage Coach and Mail in the Days of Yore_. [46] _The Danger of Travelling in Stage-Coaches; and a Remedy Proposed to the Consideration of the Public_, by the Rev. William Milton, A.M., Vicar of Heckfield, Hants. Reading, 1810.