Plate 16--Coach in which Louis XIV. entered Paris in 1654. Plate 17--Coach of Louis XIV., 1700. Plate 18--The Corbillard, an early French Coach. Plate 19--Brouette of Paris, 1670. Plate 20--The Berlin, from one now at Vienna. Plate 21--Litter to be carried by horses, now at Vienna. Plate 22--Coach of Charles II.’s time. Plate 23--The first Landau. Plate 24--Chariot à l’Anglaise, after M. Roubo. Plate 25--A French Chaise de Poste of 1760. Plate 26--From a Print published at Rome, 1692. Plate 27--Landau of 1790. Plate 28--Sociable after Hatchett. Plate 29--A high Perch Phaeton of 1790. Plate 30--A One-horse Phaeton of 1790. Plate 31--A Chair-back Gig of 1790. Plate 32--A Caned Whiskey of 1790. Plate 33--A Briska on =C= Springs. Plate 34--English Stage Coach, 1787, after Rowlandson. Plate 35--Diligence from Paris to Lyons. Plate 36--Modern French Diligence. Plate 37--Probably the first Sociable. The property of the Emperor of Germany. A Child’s Carriage of the date of 1700.--_Frontispiece._ Plate 38--An English Post Chaise of 1790. [Illustration] _The History of the Art of Coachbuilding._ CHAPTER I. Early Vehicles--Sledges--Solid Wheels--Egyptian Chariots--Early Vehicles Always had Two Horses--King Solomon’s Wedding Chariot--An Egyptian Mummy Wheel--Grecian Chariots--Vehicles of Ancient Rome--Scythian and Persian Cars--Funeral Car of Alexander the Great--War Chariot of Ancient Britain--Roman Military Roads--Wheels Found at Pompeii--Later Vehicles of the Roman Empire--Ancient Roman Dray--Carriages of Hindostan--A Carriage of Ancient Hungary--Turkish Carriages--Welsh and Irish Cars--Bristol Coburg. The progress of the art of Coachbuilding, like the progress of most inventions and discoveries, has been slow. In certain ages it has seemed to make a sudden start, then again to remain almost stationary for a long time. It is only during the last two centuries that coachmaking has been in a satisfactory condition as an art, and it has arrived at comparative perfection only during the present century. The same, however, may be said of other inventions:--Pendulum clocks were invented about 1260; paper was made from old rags about 1250; gunpowder dates from the year 1330; printing, that valuable aid to the arts, 1430; watches are said to have been first made in England about the year 1500; and the first coach was seen in England in the year 1555, three hundred and twenty years ago. The history of coaches and carriages is not as extensive as the human race, nor can it be traced among all those nations that have arrived at an advanced stage of civilisation. Ancient America, especially the civilised Mexico, tells us nothing; from China and Japan we gain next to nothing; and only a strip of North Africa contributes to the history of wheels. Europe, Asia Minor, Hindostan, and Tartary furnish nearly all the information we can glean.