Of carriages, those with two wheels are the cheapest, lightest, and
most expeditious; but, however sure-footed the horse, and however
skilful the driver, they are comparatively dangerous vehicles.
As to gentlemen’s carriages, in this country, it has justly been
observed, that the view at Hyde Park Corner, on any fine afternoon, in
the height of the London season, is enough to confound any foreigner,
from whatever part of the world he may come. He may there see what
no other country can show him. Let him only sit on the rail, near
the statue, and in the space of two hours he will see a thousand
well-appointed equipages pass before him to the Mall, in all the
pomp of aristocratic pride, in which the horses themselves appear to
partake. The stream of equipages of all kinds, barouches, chariots,
cabriolets, &c., and almost all got up “regardless of expense,” flows
on unbroken until it is half-past seven, and people at last begin to
think of what they still call dinner. Seneca tells us that such a blaze
of splendour was once to be seen on the Appian Way. It might be so--it
is now to be seen nowhere but in London.
As to stage-coaches, their form seems to have arrived at perfection.
It combines prodigious strength with almost incredible lightness; many
of them not weighing more than about 18 cwt., and being kept so much
nearer the ground than formerly, they are of course considerably safer.
Nothing, indeed, can be more favourable to safety than the build of
modern coaches. The boots being let down between the springs, keep the
load, and consequently the centre of gravity, low; the wheels of many
of them are secured by patent boxes; and in every part of them the best
materials are used. The cost of coaches of this description is from
£130 to £150; but they are generally hired from the maker at 2½_d._ to
3_d._ per mile.
It is said to be the intention of Government[74] to substitute light
carriages with two horses for the present mail-coaches drawn by four.
On this, a writer in the _Quarterly Review_ observes, that when the
mail-coach of the present day starts from London for Edinburgh, a man
may safely bet a hundred to one that she arrives to her time; but let
a light two-horse vehicle set out on the same errand, and the betting
would strangely alter. It is quite a mistaken notion that a carriage is
less liable to accidents for being light. On the contrary, she is more
liable to them than one that is laden in proportion to her sustaining
powders. In the latter case, she runs steadily along, and is but little
disturbed by any obstacle or jerk she may meet on the road: in the
former, she is constantly on “the jump,” as coachmen call it, and her
iron parts are very liable to snap.
[74] The era of rail-roads has however now arrived, and there remains
no need for such an experiment.--ED. Fifth Edition.
It may in this place be observed, that no stage-coach should be
permitted to travel the road with wheels secured only by the common
linchpin. It is in consequence of this that innumerable accidents have
happened to coaches from wheels coming off; and in these improving
and fast times, such chances should not be allowed to exist. It may
not be uninteresting to the uninitiated to learn from the same clever
and experienced writer how a coach is worked. Suppose a number of
persons to enter into a contract to horse a coach eighty miles,
each proprietor having twenty miles; in which case he is said to
cover both sides of the ground, or to and fro. At the expiration of
twenty-eight days a settlement takes place, and if the gross earnings
of the coach be £10 per mile, there will be £800 to divide between
the four proprietors, after the following charges have been deducted,
viz., tolls, duty to government, mileage (or hire of the coach to the
coach-makers), two coachmen’s wages, porters’ wages, rent or charge of
booking-offices at each end, and washing the coaches. These charges may
amount to £150, which leaves £650 to keep eighty horses, and to pay the
horse-keepers for a period of twenty-eight days, or nearly £160 to each
proprietor for the expenses of his twenty horses, being £2 per week per
horse. Thus it appears that a fast coach properly appointed cannot pay,
unless its gross receipts amount to £10 per double mile; and that even
then the proprietor’s profits depend on the luck he has with his stock.