But still the public, horrified by the increasing number and the disastrous nature of the accidents that strewed every road with groaning passengers, were intent upon being carried safely, and so various attempts were made to reassure them. So many accidents had happened on the Brighton Road, incomparably the most travelled of all, that in the spring of 1819 it was thought necessary by a prominent firm of coach-proprietors to introduce a “safety” coach. This was the “Sovereign,” an entirely new departure in coach-building. It was at once larger and lighter than an ordinary coach. “It weighs,” said the _Brighton Herald_, “only 1500¼ lb.; which is 400 lb. lighter than the average of coaches built to carry luggage, and 80¾ lb. less than some gentlemen’s landaus. The different coachmen who have driven it say that on level ground it runs much lighter than others, and every mechanic knows that small wheels have the advantage at a hill.” Evidently then, the “Sovereign” was built with smaller wheels than were usual. It was, in addition, five inches broader in the gauge of the axletrees, while, according to the official description, the weight of the body was “placed five feet lower, so that when the wheels on one side are thrown off, the axle drags on the ground, and will allow the remaining wheels to be lifted twelve inches or more before the coach loses its balance. If a wheel had been thrown off any other coach while going at the rate of nine miles an hour with two outside passengers, it must have gone over; but should it take place with the safe coach, it will not incline on one side so as to make passengers uncomfortable.” The appearance of this affair was extraordinary. It carried no outsides on the roof; they were placed in a fore-carriage like the body of a landau, constructed between the box and the body of the coach. Under the box was “a spacious lock-up receptacle for the stowage of luggage”; so it was a “safety” coach in more than one particular, and the local newspaper was of opinion that “the confidence which manufacturers and dealers have of their valuable property being secured from wet and pilfering is enough to secure for it the most decided preference, independently of its personal safety.” So great was the interest taken at Brighton in this pioneer of safety coaches that an enormous crowd of nearly two thousand persons assembled to witness the departure on its first journey, Sunday, March 21st, 1819. It made the passage to London in six hours; a speed quite up to the level of the usual performances. The popularity of the “Sovereign” was so great and immediate that other coach-proprietors lost no time in having “safeties” built. The next to take the road was the “Umpire,” in July of the same year, followed by the “Dart” and “Hero.” These were all swift, as well as safe. A similar Patent Safety was Matthews’s coach. The proprietor of the “Comet” adopted it for a time, as shown in the old print engraved here.