One of the most beautiful of State Coaches is that belonging to the Imperial family at Vienna. There are photographs of it in Coachmakers’ Hall, but to be perfectly appreciated it should be seen. The proportions are almost perfect, and the finish of the mouldings and carvings is exquisite. It was built in 1696, and is shaped with all the curves that are familiar to us in cabinets and furniture of the style called Louis Quatorze, and in which a straight line is so carefully avoided. The body is very deep, and longer on the roof than at the elbows; the doorway is depressed to hide the steps. The panels are beautifully painted with nymphs in the style of Rubens; indeed, one is told at Vienna that Rubens painted them himself, but that is another instance of the inaccuracy of many local traditions, as Rubens died in 1640. There is an unusual quantity of plate-glass in the panels of the coach, that help to give it a light and airy appearance. The centre of the roof has a large Imperial crown, and large tassels hang from the four corners of the roof, where modern Coachbuilders would place lamps. The body hangs very low. The carriage has a single perch with double cranes, corresponding very closely with those on Lord Darnley’s chariot at South Kensington. The standards in the front and hind parts are lofty, elegantly shaped and carved, and strengthened with boldly curved iron stays. The body is hung upon eight leather braces, four of which are arranged on the Berlin plan, and four are attached to short elbow springs beneath the bottom of the body. There are six of these little steel springs at each corner. The wheels are about 3 ft. and 4 ft. 9 in. high, and are very elegantly formed with carved rims, and the spokes each of a shape, with three curves in it. There are no fittings for coachman or footman. The whole of the wood and ironwork is gilt, the panels only are in the colour of a landscape with figures. It is a singular thing that there is a second coach of the same shape and date, but with the wheels and other fittings of a plainer description, and all black inside and out, with the Imperial arms in bronze relief on the doors. This black state coach is for funerals. There were a number of state coaches built about this period for the different courts of Europe;[4] but without illustrations of each, descriptions would not give much idea of their shapes. The general character of each is that of a rather lumbering body, profusely carved, gilded, and adorned, placed on a very lumbering carriage, on some of which are introduced figures of gods and goddesses or animals, appearing to hold up the heavy body by leather braces.