The nearest approach to such a book is Mr. G. A. Thrupp’s _The History of Coaches_, published in 1877, a meritorious undertaking from which I have freely quoted. Here, however, there are numerous gaps which I have endeavoured to fill, and the various lectures from which it was composed do not fit together so aptly as might be. As a whole, it is diffuse. Sir Walter Gilbey’s two books, _Early Carriages and Roads_ and _Modern Carriages_, have also been of great assistance, but here, too, the ground covered is not so large as in the following pages. Other pamphlets and small books have appeared in this country, but seemingly owe a great deal of their information to Mr. Thrupp’s work. Indeed, I notice that some of the authors have been almost criminally forgetful of their inverted commas. For purely technical details there are, of course, many books and trade papers to consult; but with these I have not been concerned. In the present book there are, indeed, large gaps, and it is not to be taken either as a manual of the art of coach-building or as a history of locomotion. It is merely a book about carriages, in which particular regard has been paid to chronological sequence, and particular attention to such individual carriages as have at all withstood the test of social history. And it is written by a layman who, until he enquired into the subject, had never looked at a carriage with any particular emotion. The result of his labours, therefore, is not meant for the expert, but for the general reader, who may have pondered over the various vehicles he has seen, and idly wondered how they may have been evolved. Where possible, I have endeavoured to quote from contemporary authors and documents. Most of such quotations are now included in a carriage book for the first time. I wish to thank the various publishers and authors who have given me permission to reprint illustrations of carriages in books published or written by them. Also I am obliged to Messrs. Maggs Bros., the well-known booksellers, for permission to photograph a rare print entitled _The Carriage Match_, in their possession. RALPH STRAUS. BADMINTON CLUB, _August, 1912_. _Chapter the First_ _THE PRIMITIVE VEHICLE_ “This is a traveller, sir, knows men and Manners, and has plough’d up sea so far, Till both the poles have knock’d; has seen the sun Take coach, and can distinguish the colour Of his horses, and their kinds.” _Beaumont and Fletcher._