Sedan chairs came into fashion in England in 1634, and were in general use by the middle of the century. The alteration in the form of the coach, from the long barge shape of Charles I.’s time to that of Charles II. was, no doubt, suggested by the shape of the sedan chair, in London as well as in Germany.[2] The improvements mentioned by Mr Pepys show that coaches were being altered, but the progress of springs was slow. We appear, in England, to have taken the lead, in at the same time introducing springs and lessening the weight of coaches. In 1770, an elaborate treatise on Coachmaking was published at Paris by the Academy of Arts, written by Mons. Roubo. In this work we find that even at Paris then, springs were not at all universal. They were applied to the four corners of a perch carriage, and placed upright, and at first only clipped in the middle to the posts of the earlier carriages, and the leather braces went from the tops of the springs to the bottoms of the bodies, without any long iron loops such as we now [Illustration: PLATE 19. BROUETTE OF PARIS, 1670.] [Illustration: PLATE 21. LITTER TO BE CARRIED BY HORSES NOW AT VIENNA.] [Illustration: PLATE 23. THE FIRST LANDAU, (FROM AN OLD DRAWING).] use; and, as the braces were very long, we find that complaints were made of the excessive swinging, tilting, and jerking of the body. Another method of the application of springs was beneath the body. The Queen’s coach is thus suspended. Four elbow-springs, as we should call them, were fastened to the bottom of the body [Plate 19, Figure 2], but again the ends did not project beyond the bottom, and the braces were still kept too long; Mons. Roubo doubts whether springs were of much use. It seems clear from this work, that one hundred years ago the art of Coachbuilding was in some respects equal to that of the present day. Their timber was carefully selected and dried, the bodies were framed and panelled, the shape, and curves, and side sweep, and turn-under was regulated by very careful drawings, the grooves for the blinds and glasses were well made. Blinds were made both panelled, perforated, and to open, just the same as those which we call venetian blinds, and a fourth sort with fixed open slats, as are now used in Turkey and India. Panels were then, as now in France, chiefly of walnut-wood, and M. Roubo describes the method of curving them by wetting one side and exposing the other to a hot fire. He also gives designs for the various tools used by the woodmen and the smiths. He enumerates the various classes of workmen, including painters and trimmers, and adds “all these are independent workmen, yet who should have a knowledge of one another’s work, that the work of one hinders not the work of another, their mutual knowledge should concur in the acceleration and perfection of the whole.”