The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1862-03-05
COACHES.

OF j aDIeS l., a!tnOUph lhSS Nclt sun iSeA'
oned as tokens Of great wealth or OF gre''
profuseness. They were then habitnaily
drawn by six horses, the sovereign alon'
with eight; and Lady Hatton
esteemed as a valuable priv lpge the rova'
license to harness four pair of long-tailed
stecds at a time. The horses used for
purposes of draught were all foreign.
Flanders supplied the carriage horses, as
Spain furnished the chargers, since Eng
lish horses were as yet but rough Gallo
ways, i'll bred, aud of triaing value. Post
ilions, French device. we're not employ.
ed, to the best OF our belief, carrier than
the Civil Wars. However, the coachman
vas assisted By running footmen and
grooms, who trot,ed on foot beside the
ambling horses. aud were ever ready to
grasp a bride IN case Of need. BY the
Restoration, change had come over the
aspect Of the country. Stage wagons, and
even stage coaches, such as tLey were,
ran, or rather crawlod along tie main
roads Nc coach, even Of that slow or
der, went west Of Exeter, or north OF
York. But women and infrm persons
could from most places on i great high
road contrive to reach London, though
at irregular intervals. Then came the
innovation Of the flying coaches, the frs;
of which achieved the stupendous jour
ney from Oxford to London between dawn
and dusk Of a single summers day. The
eminent successes Of this enterprise, which
many wiseacres had attempted TO nip in
the bud by derision and solemn warning
led to the establishment Of such public
vehicles in all directions.
1t led also to the famous petition Of the
saddlers, Spurriors, and hirers-out Of sad
die horses, that parliament would, IN its
wisdom, check the velocity Of such fam.
ing meteors, whoserackless speed of seven
miles an hour threatened to ruin impoF-
tant trades and the decay of hoTseman.
ship. And yet those Stuart fiers were
poor affairs, after all; /; they were irregular
as to their departures and arrivals, they
took twice as long in winter as in summer
aud they were SO continually overturned
that no outside passengers were eVei
taken. for fear Of broken necks.
Meanwhile, London had enlisted the
services of few hackney coaches, and
Paris, still more advanced, lad started an
omnibus. This latter throve wonderfully
well, and was formally put down" by an
act of the meddiiug Parliament of Paris,
on the ground that it offered too conven-
lent accommodation to the ignob,e public
The beginning of the eighteenth century
found our islabd still pocr In vehicles,
though much progress had been made
London and Bath alone appear to have
possessed hackney coach; and in the
latter town, the first specimen Of hired
carriage was rabbled by the chairman
The stage-wagons carried passengers at
about three pence per u,ile-half the fare
Of a fNng coach. The transport Of goods
by land cost from FIVE TO ten times lis
present rate. The carriages Of the nobil-
itv were still tinSeled arks, with the truc
gilt gingerbread display that we still ad
mire in sh-ritTs : equipaGe; they had yet
room inside for six or seven persons, in
cluding the boot or well, in which were
deposited the page, the chaplain, or the
waiting gentlewomaD; and they were
drawn by six horses. Indeed, in sum-
mer, an adventurous esquire, with light
chariot, would sometimes journey with q
pair; but rainy weather was sure to dis
concert him and the orthodox SIX steeds
were needed to drag the numbering We
hicle through the mud Of the villainous
reads In Scotland. were few carriages ;
in Wales. none When Hyde went to
occupy the post of lord rd-lieutenant of Ire
land, it cost days Of toll, and the lapor Of
scores Of stout peasants, 20 get his gilded
coach along the Holyhead road. Even so
late as the French Revolution. country
gentlemen were more used to ride a short
journey, with a servant armed with pis-
tolls, than TO order ont the awkward coach
Not till after the accession of the House
of Hanover did the caste Of running foot
men become extinct.
These men, clad in white from head to
foot, and with long wands in their hands,
were accustomed TO run at a swinging
trot in advance of my lords carriage,
bawling to carriers and drovers to clear
the wag. Many noblemen were thus
preceded all the long way from Scotland
or the west to London; and the running
footnen was expected to DO his forty
miles. at least, in . day.
Other rich and noble personages, when
posting became the rage, were won't to
travel with relays, compelling their ser
wants to ride after them in all weathers,
sixty, seventy, or eighty miles at strtch
Some humane person invented the rumble
or "dicky," as mode of saving al this
vicarious fatigue, and By the end of the