THE
HISTORY OF COACHES.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: PLATE 37. PROBABLY THE FIRST SOCIABLE. THE PROPERTY OF
THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY.
A CHILD’S CARRIAGE OF THE DATE OF 1700.]
THE
HISTORY OF COACHES
BY
G. A. THRUPP.
“O, then, I see Queen Mab has been with you,
Drawn with a team of little atomies,
Her Waggon spokes made of long spinners’ legs;
Her Chariot is an empty hazel-nut,
Made by the joiner squirrel, or old grub,
Time out o’ mind the Fairies’ Coachmakers.”
_Romeo and Juliet_, Act I. Scene 4
_WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS._
LONDON:
KERBY & ENDEAN, 190 OXFORD STREET.
NEW YORK: THE “HUB” PUBLISHING COMPANY.
1877.
LONDON:
KERBY & ENDEAN, 190 OXFORD STREET,
_Printers and Publishers_.
[Illustration]
PREFACE.
“Chi va piano, va sano.”[1]
_Italian Proverb._
In the spring of 1876 I was requested by the Society for the
Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce to prepare a series of
Lectures upon Coachbuilding.
I chose as my subject the History of that Art, as likely to be more
interesting than a merely technical description of the method of
constructing vehicles.
I was desirous of enlisting the sympathies of the Public in general in
an Art so important to the requirements of the age, as well as of
calling the attention of the artisans of our trade to the principles
which govern the construction of Carriages.
I need hardly add that I received from the Society of Arts all the
assistance in its power towards composing the substance of the Lectures,
and also in the preparation of the numerous diagrams by which they were
illustrated; they further aided in procuring a very large attendance of
artisans, employers, and others interested in Coachbuilding, at the
time of my delivering the lectures in November and December last, in
their great room at John Street, Adelphi.
It is deemed desirable that these Lectures should be re-issued in their
present form.
I found it very difficult to arrive at the shape of the vehicles used by
our forefathers on account of the absence of any connected history, and
also from the very vague descriptions contained in books on the subject,
but which were not always written for technical purposes.
It was not therefore without considerable search in books and
examination of paintings and old engravings, that I could at all
ascertain the shapes of the earlier Coaches, and of course both my time
and opportunities were limited to a few months.
I have little doubt that there remain rich mines of information
unsearched by me, because unknown. I shall, however, be glad to receive
any information that will enlarge our present knowledge.
There may be yet in England, or abroad, some ancient Carriages which
deserve to be described and photographed before they perish; for
Carriages are too bulky to be preserved in any quantity in national
museums.
Scarce books and prints, too, may exist in many libraries, and a list
might be made of them; and a record is desirable also of those students
of the Art of Coachbuilding who made their mark in the world and have
passed away.
Any communication will be thankfully received and kept in an accessible
place, to assist any future writer who may have the time to prepare a
more complete record than I of the History of Coachbuilding.
G. A. THRUPP.
269 OXFORD STREET,
_April, 1877_.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
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 1-25
CHAPTER II.
Whirlicote of the Middle Ages--Charettes--Cars of the Middle
Ages--Revival of Carriages--The First Coaches--The German
Waggon--Ancient Saxon Waggon--The Horse Litter--The Old Coaches
at Coburg--Early Italian Coaches--Coach of Queen Elizabeth--Coach
of Charles I.--Coach of Henri Quatre--Time of Louis XIV.--The
Brouette and Steel Springs--The Berlin--Old Coaches at Vienna--Horse
Litter at the Imperial Mews--Utility of Steel Springs--Mr Samuel
Pepys’ Diary--Sedan Chairs--Coachbuilding in 1770--Chariot à
l’Anglaise--Encyclopædia on Coachbuilding--Cabriolets--Light
Chariots--The Darnley Chariot 26-55
CHAPTER III.
STATE COACHES.
A Coach of Silver--Lord Castlemaine’s Coach--Spanish Ambassador’s
Coach--Ancient Spanish Coach--Austrian State Coach--State Funeral
Coach at Vienna--State Coach of England--City State Coach 56-64
CHAPTER IV.
CARRIAGES FROM 1790 TO 1876.
Mr Felton’s Opinions--Proper Strength of Carriages--Method of
Construction--Usual Width of Coaches--The Perch--Great Height of
Wheels in 1790--The Lord Chancellor’s Coach--The Landau--Phaetons
of 1790--Two-Wheeled Vehicles--Taxation on Carriages--Advance
of the Trade--Invention of Elliptical Springs--Carriages of
Napoleon Buonaparte--Number of Vehicles Paying Taxes--The
Curricle--Introduction of Undersprings--Mr S. Hobson’s
Improvements--The Briska and the Stanhope--The Tilbury and
Dog-Cart--Commercial Travellers’ Gigs--Travelling Carriages--The Pony
Phaeton and the Droitska--The Cab Phaeton and the Victoria--Dress
Carriages--Coronation Procession in 1838--Improvement of the
Landau--Introduction of the Brougham--Waggonnettes--Exhibitions of
Carriages--Numbers of Carriages in 1874 65-96
CHAPTER V.
ON PUBLIC CARRIAGES.
Travelling before A.D. 1600--Great Width of Waggon Wheels--Turnpike
Roads--Post Saddle Horses--Hackneys--Stage Coaches--Hackney
Coaches--Cheap Rate of Hire--The York Coach--The Manchester Flying
Coach--The Post Chaise--The Diligence--Post-Boys--Mr T. Pennant on
Travelling--Increase of Mail Coaches--M‘Adam’s Roads--Four-in-Hand
Clubs--Russian Travelling--Two-Wheeled Street Cabs--Street Cabs
need Improvement--Hansom Cabs--Omnibus of Pascal--Omnibus of
1820--Shillibeer’s Omnibuses--General Omnibus Company--American
Coachmaking--Fast Cabs of Vienna 97-125
CHAPTER VI.
Writers on Carriages--Periodical Publications on Coaches--Tight
Harnessing--Height of the Driver’s Seat--Cover to the Driver’s
Seat--American Buggy--American Trotting Waggons--Labour-Saving
Machines--Machines Save Time--American Magazines on
Carriages--Principles of Draught--Disadvantages of Two-Wheeled
Vehicles--Track of Wheels--Utility of High Wheels--Side
Thrust and Vibration of Wheels--Pitch of Axles and Dish of
Wheels--Springs--Elliptic Springs--Brake Retarders--India Rubber Brake
Blocks--A Load Should Rest on the Highest Wheel--Danger to a Stage
Coach on Low Front Wheels--Carriage Drawings of Full Size--Value
of being a Good Draughtsman--Mr Gladstone on Design--Coachmakers’
Company’s Library 126-140
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Frontispiece, as Plate 37.
Plate 1--Figure 1. Egyptian Car.
“ 2. Grecian Car.
“ 3. Roman Car.
Plate 2--British War Chariot.
Plate 3--Ancient Roman Chariot, from a Bas-Relief at Orleans.
Plate 4--The Ordinary German Waggon.
Plate 5--Two-wheeled Carriage, Hindostan.
Plate 6--Four-wheeled Carriage, Hindostan.
Plate 7--Hungarian Coach, from Ginzrot’s Work.
Plate 8--The Araba of Turkey.
Plate 9--Ancient Horse Litter.
Plate 10--Wedding Coach of Duke of Saxony, 1584.
Plate 11--Ancient Italian Coach of 1549.
Plate 12--Queen Elizabeth’s Coach.
Plate 13--Coach of time of Charles I.
Plate 14--Coach of Paris in 1646.
Plate 15--Coach in which Henry IV. was shot.
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.
The history of the art of Coachmaking must be divided into several
marked epochs. The first terminates with the change of government at
Rome from the rule by Consuls to the rule by Emperors, about 2000 years
ago. Up to this time there had been little variation in the vehicles
chiefly used. The second epoch terminates with the overturning of the
Roman empire, about 1500 years ago; during that epoch, which was one
marked by the display of great wealth, and the indulgence of most
luxurious living, several new and larger vehicles were introduced, and
many were decorated in a costly manner.
The third epoch commences with the introduction of vehicles slung upon
leather straps, and may be considered to end about the year 1700, when
the use of steel springs began to be understood.
The fourth epoch will end in 1790, when coaches began to assume their
present form, size, and style.
And the last epoch must commence with the introduction of carriages hung
wholly on elliptic springs, about 1805, by Mr Obadiah Elliott. This last
and surprising change has been productive of very important results to
all interested in the use of carriages or in Coachbuilding.
By the introduction of elliptic springs the construction of wheeled
vehicles has been rendered less costly, their weight has been materially
reduced, and many complicated parts have been abandoned. Simultaneously
the number of vehicles has been multiplied, and their comfort and
accommodation have been increased.
We may fairly suppose the first means of locomotion entitled to the name
of a carriage to have been a sledge. It would be so natural to place a
burden, too heavy for the shoulders, on some slight framework, and drag
it over the ground. A very little experience would enable a man to judge
of the best form for a sledge; and, in point of fact, the first sledge
of which we find any record, on a sculpture of the Temple of Luxor, at
Thebes, in Egypt, is precisely similar to that used by brewers’ draymen
in London. It has two long runners slightly turned upwards in front, and
half-a-dozen cross pieces to unite the runners and bear the burden.
Sledges of many shapes and fashions are in use during the winter in most
countries where snow lies for any length of time upon the ground, as
sledges glide more easily over its surface than do wheels. The Esquimaux
and the Laplanders habitually use sledges, all more raised from the
ground than the sledge that carries the casks of the brewers. The Swiss
and other inhabitants of mountain districts use sledges to bring down
hewn timber and faggots to the valleys; and a hundred years ago, when
carts were not so numerous, it was common in England to load the
new-made hay or sheaves of wheat on light high sledges for transport to
the farm yard. In North America and Northern Europe, sledges of elegant
shape are every year in use; and in Holland and Belgium, during some
winters, not only do the gentry ride in sledges two or three months, but
the meat, bread, and vegetables are run through the streets daily on
hand sledges.
Egypt is the chief of the countries of which we have any record of the
arts and manufactures introduced by the progress of civilisation. Egypt
had, at an early period, buildings composed of very large stones; in
moving these the sledge and the roller were used; and it is natural that
these should be combined to form a low truck or platform moving on
rollers. Later on, wheels and axles were substituted for rollers; at
first wheels were slices of the trunk of a tree, all solid pieces of
wood, and firmly wedged to the axles. Thus the wheels and axle revolved
together below the cart or truck, and were retained in their position by
strong wooden pins like the thole-pins or rowlocks of a boat. The wheels
and axle revolve together in tramway cars and in railway carriages.
Carts are made in this way now in Portugal, Spain, and in South America.
All the earlier carts seem to have been fitted only with a pole, and at
least two animals seem always to have been yoked together to the
vehicle. The objection to the wheels and axle in one piece is, that it
is difficult to turn a vehicle thus fitted in a small space. Any one
using a garden-roller round a corner may easily convince himself of
this, for whilst the outer edge of the roller is going over the
necessary sweep, the inner edge is sliding on and crushing the gravel
walk; it should be moving independently. It was soon discovered in Egypt
that it was better to have a fixed axle-tree, and allow the wheels to
revolve independently of one another.
A wheeled carriage appears to have been in very general use in Egypt at
an early period, called a car or chariot: in the Bible it is usually
translated “chariot.” There are paintings and sculptures upon the walls
of the temples and tombs of Egypt which have lasted four thousand years,
and from those we learn precisely the appearance of these chariots. They
are of great interest to us, as they formed the chief means of conveying
man for two thousand years before Christ, and were more or less the type
of all other vehicles of the ancient world.
We find certain words used in describing them, both by Homer, who lived
a thousand years before Christ, and by Moses, who lived at least five
hundred years earlier, and that the words are technical terms, such as
axles, wheels, naves, felloes, tyres, spokes, &c. Now technical terms
imply that the art that had such terms must have existed prior to the
writer who speaks of the art, so that, if we hesitated as to the date of
the chariots sculptured and painted on the walls of the Egyptian
temples, we are reassured by the terms used by the authors we name.
Moses, in the description of the wheels upon which moved the great
cauldron used by the priest, and Homer, in describing the car of the
goddess Juno, used the same terms. We read in the fifth book of the
Iliad, “The awful Juno led out the golden-bitted horses, whilst Hebe
fitted the whirling wheels on the iron axles of the swift chariot. The
wheels had each eight brazen spokes, the felloes were of gold secured
with brazen tyres all round, admirable to the sight. The seat was of
gold, hung by silver cords; the beam (or pole) was of silver, at the end
of which was hung the golden yoke and the golden reins.”
These cars [Plate 1, Figure 1] were occasionally square, but more
generally semicircular or horse-shoe shaped; the rounded front towards
the horses was high, the sides lower, the back was open, and the bottom
was near the ground, so that it was easy to step in and out. The wheels,
especially in Egypt, were very low, from 2 ft. 6 in. to 3 ft. 3 in. in
height. The framework of the body was often open, but sometimes closed
up with leather skins or basket-work, and occasionally with carved wood
or embossed metal. The pole by which it was supported curved up from the
bottom of the bar to the backs of the necks of the horses or oxen, where
it was joined to a wooden yoke, this was again strapped round the bodies
and necks of the horses, or tied to the horns of the oxen. The addition
of bridles and reins would complete the simple harness. Some horses were
attached to the pole by an iron bar with knobs at each end, which passed
through a ring at the end of the pole, and through a similar ring upon
each of the pads or saddles of the horses. This would be very similar to
the curricle bars used in modern times, and would allow of more
[Illustration: PLATE 1.
FIG: 1. EGYPTIAN CAR,
FIG: 2. GRECIAN CAR,
FIG. 3. ROMAN CAR]
freedom in motion than a fixed yoke would give. The bodies of these
chariots, in Egypt at least, were small, usually containing but two
persons standing upright. It may be remarked that, as they were so
small, they could not have been of much use, and from the small size of
the wheels, too, they would be jolted by every little obstacle on the
road; and as they were so near the ground, those using them would be
exposed to mud and dirt: yet, in spite of these objections, they were
used in vast numbers. They were very light, and could be driven at a
great speed--nearly as fast as the horses could gallop. They were
narrow, and, therefore, suitable to cities in which the streets are
still very narrow, and to mountain roads which were often only 4 ft.
wide. They suited the period and the people, or their usefulness would
not have lasted 2000 years. According to Homer, a strong man could lift
a chariot on his shoulders and carry it away. Possibly this would be
without the wheels, but even then it could not have been heavier than
one of our wheel-barrows.
From Egypt the use of chariots spread into other countries, and they
were used in war in large numbers upon the extensive plains of Asia. We
read of the 900 chariots of Jabin, king of Canaan; that David took 700
chariots from the kings of Syria, and 1000 from the king of Zobah.
Solomon had 1400 chariots, and his merchants supplied northern Syria and
the surrounding countries with chariots fetched up out of Egypt at 600
shekels (about £50) a-piece. They were not the first nor the last
merchants who have preferred their pockets to their patriotism, and
supplied nations who might become their country’s enemies with the
weapons of warfare. Solomon, we find, in the Song of Solomon, built a
state or wedding chariot of cedar with pillars of gold, probably
supporting a canopy. We may also notice the poetic description by the
prophet Nahum of the future state of Nineveh, no longer to echo “to the
noise of the chariots raging up and down the paved streets, jostling
against one another in the broad ways, with the crack of the whip, the
rattle of the wheels, the prancing horses and the jumping chariots;” and
the remark in another place of “the stamping of strong horses, the
rushing of the chariots, and the rumbling of the wheels,” all pointing
to the great impression which was made upon the prophet of the
wilderness by the carriages and noise of the crowded city.
In a museum of New York is a wheel of an Egyptian chariot, found in a
mummy pit at Dashour, by Dr Henry Abbott. It is 3 ft. 3 in. high, the
nave is 14½ in. long, and 5 in. in diameter, and worked upon an axle of
wood which tapered, and was from 3 in. to 2¾ in. in diameter. The
unusual size and length of this axle-arm would be very apparent in so
small a vehicle as the Egyptian chariot; the spokes, six in number, are
2 in. by 1⅜ in. at the nave, and taper towards the felloe to 1⅜
in. round; it has a double rim all round. The six inner felloes do not
meet as in modern wheels, but are spliced one over the other, with an
overlap of 3 in.; the felloes are 1½ in. square. The outer rim is formed
also of six felloes, but they are tenoned together, and are pierced all
round the lower edge with small holes, through which, we may well
conjecture, leather thongs passed, binding the outer to the inner rim.
The total depth of the double rim is 3¼ in. by 1¼ in. to 1½ in. in
width.
From the ancient sculptures preserved from Nineveh and Babylon, some of
which are in the British Museum, we observe the use of chariots was
continued in the great plains, for the purposes of hunting as well as
for war. The chariots of Assyria were larger than those of Egypt, and
would carry three or more persons; they seem, too, much heavier in the
build.
The Greeks used chariots, and at the siege of Troy, which Homer has
immortalised in his poem, all the chief warriors on both sides are
described as going into battle and fighting from their chariots. As
years passed on, however, the Greeks no longer used chariots for war,
but only for processions in public on state occasions, or in their great
races, or for the amusement of their leisure hours. Erectheus, king of
Athens, is reported to have been the first to drive four horses in a
car; afterwards it became common to use, in the races, four horses
attached to each car. The Grecian chariots were all curved in front, and
were rather larger and on higher wheels than those used in Egypt. [Plate
1, Figure 2.]
The Roman nation, as it increased in power, adopted the car, which had
also been for many years in use by the Etrurians, a neighbouring country
to their own in the Italian peninsula. The Etrurians were traditionally
the first to place a hood or awning over the open two-wheeled car; they
decorated both the car and the awning with that beautiful tracery and
ornamental bordering which is familiar to us from the copies of their
pottery. The Roman car was chiefly used in the cities, and for purposes
of show and state rather than for daily use. A beautiful marble model of
one of these still exists at the Vatican in Rome; a copy of it and the
horses drawing it is in the Museum at South Kensington. [Plate 1, Figure
3.]
Besides the chariots the Romans had other two-wheeled cars, and
four-wheeled waggons of different shapes, and giving different
accommodation; but first they were kept for conveying agricultural
produce, and for moving goods and baggage, and the better sorts were
reserved for the conveyance of the images of their gods and vestal
virgins in religious processions. Then came the triumphal processions of
successful military commanders, and a variety of vehicles conveyed the
conqueror, the captives, and the arms and valuables taken from the
enemy. Plutarch tells us that Emilius, the Roman Consul, had 750 waggons
in his triumph in the year 170 B.C., bearing the spoils of Perseus, last
king of Macedonia. On the column of Trajan at Rome is modelled one of
these waggons. It is a large square basket on four wheels, the back a
little higher, and the hind wheels also are a very little higher than
the front.
Roman history, of the time of Camillus, 350 B.C., mentions a carriage
termed a _Pilentum_, as a splendid four-wheeled carriage with a covering
to it, and with seats suspended by straps. The use of these _Pilenta_
was allowed as a special favour to a few great Roman ladies. The Empress
Agrippina also had a _Carpentum_, an elegantly carved carriage on two
wheels, the arched covering of which was supported by four female
statues; it was drawn by two mules. The Romans also used _Basternæ_,
which were litters or couches with low coverings, carried on poles by
horses or mules; and _Lecticæ_, or litters carried by men only. The
Roman chariot was called a _Currus_.
Herodotus (450 B.C.), and other writers tell us of the vehicles of the
ancient Scythians. These were a race of people who inhabited the country
near the Caspian Sea, and wandered about with large herds of cattle and
horses. They used a rough two-wheeled cart which consisted of a
platform, on which they placed a covering shaped like a bee-hive, and
composed of basket-work of hazel-wood covered with skins of beasts or
thatched with reeds. When they were stationary in any part these
bee-hive huts were taken off the carts and placed upon the ground to
serve as their dwellings, like gipsy tents.
The war-chariots used by the Persians were larger and more unwieldy than
those previously built. The idea seems to have been to form a sort of
turret upon the car, from which several warriors might shoot or throw
their spears. These chariots were provided with curved blades or scythes
projecting from the axle-trees. The Persians had also cars that were
used for state processions, in which the king or noble was raised above
the crowd among which he passed on a sort of throne of many steps.
The Dacians, who inhabited Wallachia on the Danube and part of Hungary,
were conquered by the Romans about the year 300. Their cars are
sculptured upon Roman monuments, and resemble the Persian cars. They are
on two wheels and drawn by two horses; the shape is that of a large
square box or chest, with a smaller box upon it, which formed a seat for
the passengers. The spokes of the wheels are six in number, and are
widest at the ends supporting the rims of the wheels. A Dacian car of
this sort is represented upon a fragment of terra cotta in the British
Museum.
Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, invaded Asia and advanced to
India; he was met upon the banks of the river Indus by King Porus, in
whose army were a number of elephants of large size, and also several
thousand chariots; each chariot carried six persons; but the historian
notes that in a soft soil or in rainy weather it was difficult for these
vehicles to move quickly. On Alexander’s return from India towards
Persia, he travelled in a chariot drawn by eight horses, on which a
square stage or platform was erected and covered in by a tent. His car
was followed by an innumerable number of others, covered with rich
carpets and purple coverlets; some shaped like shells or cradles were
shaded with the branches of trees. I have seen a drawing of a Persian
car in which the body is raised above the wheels and seems to swing from
pivots like a large cradle, or such a cot as is used on board ship.
After Alexander’s death a funeral car was prepared
[Illustration: PLATE 2. BRITISH WAR CHARIOT]
[Illustration: PLATE 3. ANCIENT ROMAN CHARIOT]
[Illustration: PLATE 4. THE ORDINARY GERMAN WAGGON.]
to convey his body from Babylon to Alexandria, in Egypt, a distance of
several hundred miles, which car perhaps has never been excelled in the
annals of coachbuilding. It was prepared during two years, and was
designed by the celebrated architect and engineer, Hieronymus. It was 18
feet long and 12 feet wide, on four massive wheels and drawn by
sixty-four mules, eight abreast. The car was composed of a platform with
a lofty roof supported by eighteen columns, and was profusely adorned
with drapery and gold and jewels; round the edge of the roof was a row
of golden bells; in the centre was a throne, and before it the coffin;
around were placed the weapons of war and the armour that Alexander had
used. This car was thought so much of that several historians have
described it, and there are various plans of its appearance, one of
which may be seen in Ginzrot’s work on ancient carriages in the British
Museum library.
The second epoch of the history of carriages I take to commence at the
invasion of Belgium and Britain by the Romans. The ancient Britains had
used a car for warlike purposes which was evidently new to the Romans.
[Plate No. 2.] It was on higher wheels than their cars, it was open in
front, and was ascended in the front, instead of, as in their cars, at
the back; the pole, instead of sloping up to the horses’ necks, went
straight out between the horses’ bodies, and was broad, so that the
driver of the car could stand on it, and if necessary, drive from the
end of the pole, or leap out and stand before his horses. It was larger
than a Roman car, and above all it possessed a seat, and was called
_essedum_ from this peculiarity. At times this car was furnished with
scythes, which projected from the axle-tree ends. No doubt the same or a
similar car was used by the Gauls and Belgians; but the British
_essedum_ was the best; and Cicero, writing to a friend in Britain,
remarks “that there appeared to be very little worth bringing away from
Britain except the chariots, of which he wished his friend to bring him
one as a pattern.”
When Cassibelaunus was taken prisoner by the Romans, they also captured
six hundred cars and four thousand _essedarii_, or car-drivers and
warriors. I think we may look upon this vehicle as the origin of the
curricle of later years. It is certain that it attracted great notice
among the Romans, and under its own name, _essedum_, and with another of
a smaller size and with still higher wheels called _cisium_, became the
chief and most rapid vehicles upon the public roads, whether in Italy
itself, or along the military roads already made into France, Spain, or
Germany. Despatches and letters were conveyed with speed and punctuality
to the more distant parts of the Roman Empire. The historian Suetonius
mentions that the Emperor Augustus established on the military roads
active young men at first, and afterwards carriages, to convey his
despatches to the governors of the provinces. Besides these rapid
conveyances along the public roads, there was the _rheda_, a slow sort
of waggon drawn by six or eight mules. Buildings were erected along the
main road where these different carriages could be hired. Cicero
declares that a message was sent fifty-six miles in a _cisium_ in ten
hours. On a monumental column at Ingel, near Treves, is the
representation of two persons riding in a _cisium_ with one horse. The
vehicle is very much like a gig.
Under the Emperors of Rome, the number of kinds and shapes of vehicles
increased; but from the vague manner in which the writers of the period
speak of them, it is difficult to enter into minute descriptions. The
height of the wheels increased. At the capital of Rome, the Emperor
Marcus Aurelius is represented in a car of triumph, the wheels of which
are as high as the backs of the horses. Sir William Gell, in his work on
the ancient city of Pompeii, which was destroyed in the year A.D. 79,
mentions that three wheels had been dug out of the ruins in his
day--very much like our modern wheels--a little dished, and 4 ft. 3 in.
high, with ten spokes, rather thicker at each end than in the middle.
Sir W. Gell also gives a well-known picture of a cart used for
conveyance of wine in a huge skin or leathern bag; it is a four-wheeled
cart, with an arch in the centre for the front wheel to turn under. The
pole in this painting appears to end in a fork, and to be attached to
the axle-bed. As the wealth of the Romans increased so did their desire
to use comfortable and highly-decorated carriages. For many years what
are called “sumptuary laws” existed, which regulated each citizen’s
dress, furniture, and ornaments, according to his rank and consequence,
and these laws restrained the decorations upon private carriages.
The Emperor Alexander Severus, however, issued a decree, “that anyone
might decorate his car as he pleased;” and the number of vehicles in use
rapidly increased. We find upon monuments many different shaped cars of
the time of the Emperors, chiefly processional cars, lofty and highly
ornamented, evidently adorned with embossed and chased work in metal,
rich carvings, drapery and cushions. On the columns of Theodosius, at
Constantinople, are some specially handsome cars on two and on four
wheels, with door-like openings in the sides of a square shape. On the
arch of Constantine, at Rome, are several cars. Sufficient evidence,
however, exists, that for nearly 500 years, during the reign of the
different Emperors of Rome, the art of Coachbuilding must have been a
good and important business. Besides the ordinary artizans, the woodmen,
the wheelwrights, and the smiths, there must have been plenty of
employment for the carvers, painters, chasers, embossers, embroiderers,
and trimmers.
Homer, as I have mentioned, tells us that the seat of Juno’s car was
slung upon cords, to lessen the vibration and jolting attendant upon a
car without springs or braces; and it is certain that the Roman Emperors
were not better off for comfort and ease than Juno was, unless we except
one sort of carriage which is described as borne on long poles, fixed to
the axles. Now a certain amount of spring can be obtained from the
centre of a long light pole. The Neapolitan Calesso, the Norwegian
Carriole, and the Yarmouth Cart, were all made with a view to obtaining
ease by suspension on poles between bearings placed far apart. In these
the seat is placed midway between the two wheels and the horse, on very
long shafts, which are thus made into wooden springs. In the old Roman
carriages the weight was carried between the front and hind axles, on
long poles or wooden springs. The under-carriage of the later
four-wheeled vehicles used by the Romans was, in all probability, the
same as is in use in the present day, both in this country and on the
Continent, and in America, for the under-carriages of agricultural
waggons. There is a work on the subject of ancient carriages which was
published at Munich in 1817; it was prepared by John Christian von
Ginzrot, who was an inspector in the office of the Master of the Horse
of the King of Bavaria. A few copies of this work exist still, but only
in the German language, and not easily accessible to the public. This
author gives the Greek and Latin names for the pole, perch, wheel-plate,
and other technical terms of carriages so fully as to leave no doubt
that coach-building was well understood by the Romans. He also gives a
plan of a four-wheeled dray [Plate 4], used by the Romans for conveying
casks of wine, which is identical with the drays used now in Vienna and
Munich. If his authorities be sound, we may be satisfied that the art of
coachbuilding, as far as the under-carriage works, and the making of
agricultural waggons, was as forward in the days of the Cæsars of Rome
as it is to this day in central Germany.
We will, however, quit ancient carriages for those now used in Asia. In
Hindostan are a great number of vehicles of native build. It has been
frequently remarked that there is little change in the Eastern
fashions, that tools and workmen are precisely as they were a thousand
years ago, and the work they produce is precisely the same. In examining
what is done now by Indian coachbuilders, we are probably noticing
carriages of a similar, if not identical, sort with those in use three
thousand years ago. The commonest cart in Hindostan is called “hackery”
by Europeans; it is on two wheels with a high axletree-bed, and a long
platform, frequently made of two bamboos, which join in front and form
the pole, to which two oxen are yoked; the whole length is united by
smaller pieces of bamboo tied together, not nailed. In France, two
hundred years ago, there was a similar cart, but the main beams
terminated in front in shafts; in neither the cart of India nor of
France were there any sides or ends; the French cart is called “Haquet;”
it is probable that the French, who were in India as well as ourselves,
may have given the term “hackery” to the native cart, which was so like
their own. The native name, however, is “Gharry.” Other carts have sides
made by stakes driven into the side beams; the wheels are sometimes of
solid wood, or even of stone. Wheels are also made by a plank with
rounded ends, and two felloes fitted on to complete the circle. Again,
wheels are made like ours, and also with six or eight spokes, which are
placed in pairs, each pair close to and parallel with one another.
If a carriage for the rich is required the underworks are like those of
a cart, but the pole is carefully padded and ornamented with handsome
cloths or velvet; the
[Illustration: PLATE 5. TWO WHEELED CARRIAGE, HINDOSTAN.]
[Illustration: PLATE 6. FOUR WHEELED CARRIAGE, HINDOSTAN.]
[Illustration: PLATE 7. HUNGARIAN COACH FROM GINZROT’S WORK.]
sides of the body are railed or carved, and the top is of a very
ornamental character, similar to the howdah of state that is placed on
an elephant. It has a domed roof, supported upon four pillars, with
curtains to the back and sides [Plate 5]. The passengers ride
cross-legged under the dome, on pillows. The driver sits on the pole,
which is broad at the butt-end, and he is screened from the heat by a
cloth which is fastened to the dome roof and supported upon two stakes
which point outwards from the body. A variety of different shaped native
vehicles may be seen in elaborate models in the India Museum at South
Kensington, but they do not show much originality of design nor beauty
of execution, and are said to be really creaking and lumbering affairs.
When the Hindoos wished for a four-wheeled vehicle, the plan appears to
have been to hook on one two-wheeled vehicle behind another [Plate 6],
connecting them with a perch-bolt, and upon the hindermost they placed
the body.
There is a singular addition to their vehicles outside the wheels; a
piece of wood curved to the shape of the wheel is placed above it,
frequently supported by two straight uprights from the end of the
axle-tree outside the wheel; this acts as a wing or guard to keep any
one from falling out of the vehicle, and also the dress of the
passengers from becoming entangled in the wheel. In addition, a long bar
of wood, rather longer than the diameter of the wheel, curved in the
shape called “cupid’s bow,” is fastened to the axletree, the linchpin
being outside of it, and the ends of the bar tied to the ends of the
wing by cords. I imagine it to be placed in order to be a safeguard for
the people in crowded streets, who might be pushed by the throng against
the wheel. It will be seen in many of the models, and I have seen it
also in ancient drawings of Indian and Persian vehicles. Many of the
carts, which are designed to carry heavy loads, have a curved rest from
20 in. to 30 in. long attached to the lower side of the front end of the
pole; this serves not only as a prop whilst the vehicle is being loaded,
but, should the oxen trip and fall, it supports the cart, and prevents
the load, yoke, and harness from weighing down the poor animals as they
struggle to recover themselves. In England we have very few of these
humane contrivances; we have, however, short rests to prop up a hansom
cab when not at work.
In India there are several huge unwieldy structures on wheels called
“idol cars;” the name of the car of Juggernaut must be familiar to many.
The wheels of some of these are enormous blocks of stone shaped and
drilled for the work. In the Indian Museum there is a photograph of an
idol car from South India, in the district of Chamoondee and the
province of Mysore, which deserves examination. The car appears well
proportioned, and the ornamental carvings are beautiful in design, and
would bear comparison with most European work.
The _Hecca_ or _Heka_ is a one-horse native car, resembling an Irish
car; it consists of a tray for the body, fixed above the wheels on the
shafts, and has a canopy roof; the driver sits on the front edge of the
tray, and the passenger cross-legged behind him. The _Shampony_ is the
usual vehicle for women, which resembles the former, but it is larger;
the wheels are outside the body, and it is drawn by two bullocks; the
canopy roof is furnished with curtains that are drawn all round, and the
driver sits on the pole in front of the body. All these native vehicles
have wooden axles, which, until recently, I am told, were used without
grease, from the prejudices of the people forbidding them to use animal
fat. Some used olive oil or soap, but in most large towns there are now
regulations obliging the natives to use some substance to avoid the
noise and creaking of the dry axles. The commonest carriages in Central
India are called “Tongas,” but the universal native word for a vehicle
is “Gharry.”
In Calcutta are several coachbuilders of repute, who employ large
numbers of native workmen; Messrs Dyke employ six hundred; Messrs
Stewart & Co. four hundred; and Messrs Eastman, three hundred. The men
are chiefly Hindoos, and are clever and industrious, but have a singular
habit of sitting down at their work. The labourers who have to use
grease are all Mahomedans. The wages vary from sixpence to two shillings
per day.
A representation of a primitive vehicle, which was in use in Hungary not
very long ago, is given by Von Ginzrot as representing the Roman
_rhedum_. It is very curious, and just such a primitive affair as might
be made in any country. [Plate 7.] The body is a disguised waggon; the
tilt-top has two leather flaps to fall over the doorway; the panels are
of wicker work, such as was in common use for carriages both in Greece
and Italy; and of such a character we may suppose the waggons were,
which were used by the many wandering tribes that, in the times of the
Roman empire, poured out of Asia and Russia, and invaded Germany, Gaul,
and Italy. In the history of Julius Cæsar’s wars in Gaul, we are told of
the large number of waggons which the savage wandering tribes possessed.
Another primitive vehicle is the Turkish “Araba,” [Plate 8] used for the
conveyance of women. The lattice-work admits air without too much light.
The singular wing-guards over the wheels identify this “Araba” as being
derived from the same source as the carriages of Persia and Hindostan.
These vehicles have been superseded in many parts of Turkey, Asia, and
Egypt by carriages sent from the west of Europe.
In 1860 a carriage was made for one of the ladies of the Sultan’s harem,
which consisted of silver as far as possible. It cost, it is said,
2,000,000 Turkish piastres, about £15,000, a very expensive present for
the ruler of Turkey to make to one out of many wives.
To speak of one more primitive carriage. Dr Edgeworth describes some
cars which were in use in his time (that is in 1800) in Ireland, as the
common vehicles of the country. They were composed of shafts with
cross-bars; two low wheels of solid wood were wedged on to the
axle-tree, so as to form one piece, like a railway axle and wheels; they
were nearer together than the shafts, and ran inside the shafts; the
axle projected beyond the wheels, and moved in sockets beneath the
shafts. These cars, Dr Edgeworth says, “cost only four guineas,
including painting; they would follow a horse anywhere, they could
scarcely be overturned even with bulky loads, they were light and
easily moved by hand, their repair was easy, and they lay so near the
ground that they could be easily loaded and unloaded; the whole would
turn in a very small compass.” It is probable that these were the
primitive cars of Ireland. The nearest approach to them in the present
day are the costermonger’s barrows. We have noticed how light and simple
are these vehicles, and that a wretched pony or donkey will canter along
with three or even four persons sitting upon them. They also resemble
the Yarmouth cart, in which the wheels are inside the shafts; but then
the difference is, that the shafts of the Yarmouth carts are of great
length, and the load is carried between the horse and the wheels instead
of over the wheels, as is usual in a cart. In some parts of Wales cars
are used of this construction, and are also supposed to be the primitive
cars of that country; their wheels are solid. In Yarmouth this shape was
adopted to suit the very narrow streets or alleys, which a cart made
with the wheels outside the shafts could not traverse. The great length
of the shafts is occasioned by the necessity of carrying a quantity of
goods, such as barrels or sacks, which would tend to make the vehicle
top-heavy, if piled up above the wheels.
The Irish jaunting car, as now built, is superior to the vehicle of
forty years ago. It was then on lower wheels, and being hung lower, the
shafts pitched up in front, and the unfortunate passengers were huddled
upon one another at every jolt in the road. This car was very light, a
great benefit for the horse; it is easily turned and moved in a crowded
thoroughfare, and is capable of conveying more luggage than might at
first be supposed. The car is no doubt very cheap, and perhaps more
Irish drivers are able to own their own cars than are the drivers of
London cabs. Irishmen, perhaps, like the vehicle to which they are
accustomed, but it will never become popular in this country.
The car, however, used in Cork, is still more uncomfortable. It is an
inside car, that is, instead of sitting back to back, you sit face to
face, and to most there is a hood or tilt; a very good vehicle, no
doubt, for two persons at a slow pace, but with four persons at a trot
it is the worst vehicle I had ever the misfortune to enter. If the Cork
car was hung on higher wheels, and the shafts kept parallel to the
ground, it would be a better vehicle; if, however, it cannot be balanced
properly, it should be placed upon four wheels, like the inside cars of
the North of England.
I will mention one more primitive vehicle,--the cart with a tilt, with
side windows, and a door behind, which is called a Coburg, and is used
in the south-west of England; when on good springs, it is a very cheap
and comfortable vehicle. In Belgium and Holland it is much used, and is
usually built of a larger size than in England. It is, however, after
all, rather like a bathing-machine on wheels. It is to be found pictured
in our earliest illustrations of vehicles in old English illuminated
manuscripts, differing from the modern Coburg only in the want of a door
and springs.
In reviewing what I have laid before you as to ancient carriages, I
would say, that any one who desires to learn more about them can do so
in the pages of the _London Carriage Builders’ Art Journal_ for 1859 and
1860, which appears to contain much of the information given by the
German work of Von Ginzrot.
It is interesting to observe the character of the different people
illustrated in their carriages. The Egyptians, with all their learning
and skill, appear to have made no change during centuries of experience;
as at the beginning, so at the end, the kings stand by the side of their
charioteers, or hold the reins themselves. The Persians and Hindoos
introduced luxurious improvements, and in lofty vehicles elevated the
nobles above the heads of the people, and secluded their women in
curtained carriages. The Greeks introduced no new vehicles, but
perfected so successfully the useful waggon, that their model is still
seen throughout Europe, without change of principle or structure. The
Romans, on the other hand, in their career of conquest, gathered from
every nation what was good, and, wherever possible, improved upon
it:--From Greece, the waggons; from Persia, the _harmamaxa_ and elevated
triumphal cars; and from Hungary, the _rheda_. We may well add that the
genius of the Roman nation speaks through Cicero, when he wrote, “I hear
that in Britain are most excellent chariots; bring me one of them for a
pattern.”
[Illustration]