The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-04-11

which has since branched Off into many varie-
| ties of shape and price-dates from the fallen
| days of George the Fourth, when he entered
into voluntary exile at the cottage near Virginia
| Water. The kings pony phaeton was one of
| the rare instances of good taste patronized by
| the author of white kid breeches stucco palaces
] and uniforms in which fighting was impossible
4 and dancing difficult
The Chancellor of the Excbequer who reduced
| the tax on low-wheeled carriages was the real
author of the swarms OF pony phaetons that
branched off and vulgarized, as the French say;
the George the Fourth model. The nineteen
| guinea dog-cart that never carried dogs aud
J the thirty-inch wheel pony phaeton, were
,, bred in the same year by the same budget
AS special boon 20 the agricultural public in
| a chronic state of discomfort, the exemption
| from taxation, which had previously been oon-
| fined to the sprngess shandrydan, was extended
| to any two-wheeled carriage built for less than
| twenty pounds, provided the owners Dame
| appeared in letters OF certain length and un-
defined breadth, or the cart or gig. This bounty
| created large crop of dog-carts at fabulousy
| low prices, embellshed with letters which pre-
| sented the nearest approach to length without
! breadth. The exemption has long been repealed,
| but II lasted long enough to make the " cartr an
| institution, without which no gentlemans estab-
| lishment was complete. Itraised number OF in
| genous adyenturouswheelwrigh into buildersof
carts who by degrees, when all one-horse springed
| vehicles were put on the same footing, advanced
| to better things, broke through the costly tradi-
| tons of Longacre, and displayed great Inge-
| nuity in varying form and the shape of vehicles
! on two and four wheels, for town and country
| use. These found place and new customers in
| the crystal Palace Exhibition and at agricultu-
| raj shows.
Among the novelties is the wagonette, be.
loved OF nursery maids and children; it Is excel
| lent for the ladies with sandwich-baskets and
masks at cover-side, where roads run handy;
useful for country raCe-course not bad at
picnic; indispensable where much luggage goes
to a station. The wagonette, which one or two,
or four horses may be harnessed to, which
may have table in the centre, and long boot
beneath, and may be as coquettish as q Stan
nope phaeton, must not be forgotten. The wag-
gonette is an improvement on the French char
a-banc and the old English break or perhaps it
Is an outside car, AnghGed, made solid on four
wheels, and turned outside in. The waggonette
Is essentially sociable carriage, comprehen-
sive ana conversational, but uncomfortable for
stout middle age.
Latest of all is the sociable light, cheap,
and elegant edition of the family coach.
Before the rise and fall OF the cabrolet and
before the dogcart, with its convenient recep-
tacle Tor luggage, had made its way from tan
dem-driving universities into private families,
the glg, under various names, as Stanhope,
whisky, Dennet, Tiibury, was both a fashion
able and domestic conveyance, as may be
learned from the carcatures of the first half
of this century, The Stanhope form-the
6est-has survived the changes of fashion.
The commercial travellers gig is almost q
thing OF the past. Where these ambassadors
stllu use wheels, they now generally go on four
not trusting their necks and parcels to the
SAFETY OF horses fore.legs.
Public hired carriages at any rate in London,
nave closely followed the changes in private We
hlcles AS long as char1ots and family coaches
were IN common use, the dreadful iingling hack
neY'coach and pair claimed its place upon the
stand. The introduction of the private cabriolet
led first to that dangerous rapid high wheeled
cab, with its outside perch for the driver, inn
mortal1Zed by Seymour in the illustration OF ad-
ventures with which our readers are familiar.
The cab that conveyed Mr.. Pickwick to Charing
Gross is the ancestor of the most luxurious of
hired swift carriages, the Hanson, imported
from Naples. The private Brougham soon
found its way into the streets as four.
wheeled cab, and with its one horse killed
OIL the pair-horse coaches. While the Brougham
is purely British invention, the omnibus is
& foreign importation. For some mysterious
in Glasgow; the best Hansoms, in Br-
mingham. bennington forty years ago rejoiced
in coquettish little open phaetons, drawn by
one horse and ridden by boys in neat position
costume but, since the advent of railroads,
these have given way to the universal cab.
Can any one explain why Ireland, with damp
climate, adheres to that eccentric conveyance,
the outside car, while Cornwall with a like
weeping sky, has Tor an unknown period
travelled TO market in q covered cart, called in
genteel family circles Coburg, and has per-
formed stage-coach business in a boXed-up jolt
ing one-horsed omnibus for ages?
1t is, however, due to Ireland to admit that
the JaunLIng-car probably first taught US the
capabilities OF single horse, when harnessed to
Il llRnl Nen1Cle.
A carriage is like a piano as an article of
manufacture. You cannot find out whether it
Is worth its price until you have used it for
some time.
Paint and varnish hide many defects, and only
an expert can judge the value of metal-work.
Before Macadam's time, a nobleman's coach
required to be as strong as one of Pickfords
vans. 1t was often, on journeys to or from the
manor-house, drawn out of sloughs and quag-
mlres., At present, the object successfully pur-
sued by our best manufacturers is TO produce
the minimum of lightness with the maximum of
strength. The best mechanical arrangements
have been studied; foreign woods have, the duty
being repealed, largely replaced native prOduce;
and the toughest and most expensive iron and
steel have superseded the cheaper produce OF
Statfordshire. .H ...-
The coachmaker's wood.loft contains oak ash
and elm, from trees which have lam year after
falling, and which, after being cut into panks
OF various thlcknesses, must remain unused as
many years as they are inches thick. certain
class OF carrlage-builders use green wood of any
quality, relying on paint to cover all defects,
not expecting or caring to see any customer
twice. There are some advertising fabricators
OF dlmlnutlye Broughams who are especially to
be avoided.
Besides European woods, there is also large
demand tor mahogany and lance-wood from the
Gull OF Mexico, Quebec pine, birch and ash from
Canana, tulip-wood and hickory from the United
States. These, for the most part, are cut ready
for use by steam saws before gong into the
hands OF the coachbuildeT.
The first step for the construction Of say a
Brougham, Is to make chalk drawing on
brick wall, of the same size. On this design
depends the style of the carriage. Some builders
are happy or unhappy in designing novelties;
others have traditional design, certain char
acterisic outline, from which they VIII on no
consideration depart. The next step is to make
tories, each skilled workman has been appren-
nced TO. and follows only one branch OF, the