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

abolition of the perch, transformed into the
Stanhope phaeton. 1t Is likely to continue popu-
lar with the large number who enjoy driving,
and can afford to drive, pair of horses The old
mail phaeton, some specimens of whichmay still
be seen driven by country bankers and masters
OF hounds, required pair of full-szed expensive
horses to draw 1t well, instead of the small blood
horses which best suit a Stanhope pbaeton; bdS
1t was, of its kind luxurious carriage, by its
strength and weleht deiying the olts Of the worst
roads, and overpowerine the impudence of the
drunken drivers ofmarket-carts. Nothing less
than collision with four-wheeled wagon could
shake 1t, while the driver high above his horses,
held them in complete command, and rolled
serenely along overlooking garden walls, and
looking down on all ordinary vehicles. In the
days when roadside inns regularly expected and
received succession OF guests, there was no.
thug pleasanter than a tour of visits TO hos
pitaole friends, in well-appolnted mail phaeton,
with an agreeable companion at your side, and
a clever handy groom behind. The big hood was
a partial protection to the great-coated many.
capped inmates, and the blazing lamps and rafting
pole chains made even dark and foggy NIGHT
not altogether disagreeable, from the comforting
sensation that if anything you could not see did
run against you, IT was not your solid carriage
that would get the worst Of IT.
The fashionable two wheeled halfcovered town
carriage OF Reform Bill days was the cabriolet
Palace-yard was iull of them on the evenings of
great debates. Now, you may count on your
fingers the number that are worth looking at in
the Park, or at the doors of the best clubs. The
entirely as the one carriage of the bachelor, and
leaving 1t only for few, to whom carriage
more or less, is of no consequence. In another
twenty years the cabroet will have followed its
predecessor, the curricle, to the limbo of marine
stores. The cabriolet, when perfectly appointed
was avery stately bachelors day carriage, costing
a large sum Oi money to build, requiring a very
expensive horse with change if used at night
as well as day, unfit for country expeditions.
and not complete without a perfectly useless
BOY Joltng numerically behind and too small
for anything but ornament.
The age of Tom and Jerry bucks drove fast
trolters in gigs, or dashed along in tandems-
tandems which are nearly abandoned by under
graduates, and almost confined to headstrong
shop-keepers on Sundays and the long Journeys
OF young Norfolk farmers on market-days.
Ihe Brougham, invented in 1889, gave fatal
blow to the cab1olet, by affording the maximum
OF appearance and convenience at the cost of one
horse and one servant.
1t is rather surprising that the noble lord who
gave the idea and his name to this invaluable i'm
provement In town carriages has never made it
the subject OF paragraph in one of those won
deriul dlscourses on everything in general and
nothing in particular, addressed to social science
meetings. For the social results of the Brougham
have been immense-harmonizing families bring
ing husband and wife together, accommodating
children, making beauties look more beautiful,
cutting off the necessity of a tootman, and, not
least, reforming street conveyances, which ira
yelled through fearful interregnum of danger
and discomfort, between the decline of the hack
ney coach OF our childhood and the rise of the
of our first whskers. The secret his
tory OF the origin, rise, and triumph of the
Brougham has never been written, and perhaps
never will be, yet it is worth the attention of
those industrious biographers who devote their
whole energies to the researches into the private
lives OF jockeys, blacklegs, and boxers record
their tastes in meats and puddings, their tri-
umphs, their recondite Jokes, and exhaust classi.
cal quotations from Mr.. Maunders manuals on
their adventurous lives and premature deaths
The germ of the Brougham is TO be found in
certain street vehicles drawn by one horse in use
in Birmingham and Liverpool forty years ago.
under the name of one.horse cars. So recently
as 1887 gentleman's covered carriage on four
wheels drawn by one horse was entirely unknown
to the genteel, not to say the fashionable world:
for in that year the most complete and scientific
book on pleasure carriages was published bV ,
Mr. Adams, then a coachbulder, since dis :
tinguished mechanical engineer, and he gives
no hint OF the coming carriage reform.
Mr.. Adams made an early display of his in
genuity by building a carriage now only re-
membered in connection with the great Duke
OF Wellington, who drove one to the last, the
Equirotal, which, in theory, combined the ad-
vantage Of a two-wheeled and urwheeled
carriage, the forepart and wheels being con-
nected with the bind body by hinge or
joint so that no matter how the horses
turned, the driver always had them square
at the cost of something under five hundred
ponds convertible into a series of vehicles.
Complete, it was a landau holding four inside,
besides the servants hind dickey; dsunited, 1t
formed at VIII stanhope gig, a, cabriolet, or
currlcle. In spite of the example of the Iron
Duke, and the eloquent explanations of the in
ventor, the public, either not caring for such q
combination, or not caring to pay the price,
never took to the Equirotal
The brougham, ON the other hand advanced
from the inst, and eventually spread over the
whole civilized world. To obtain lightness, the
perch and the springs were abolished at the
cost OF certain buzzing noise still to be found
in the work OF inferior builders There are
Broughams with springs, but these are
luXuries, and departure from the original prin-
ciple. Broughams were built at first for two
only, then were extended to four seats; single
and double Broughams were soon adopted by
the tairest of the fair, because it was dis.
covered that the plate-glass windows presented
charming portraits, hung, as they should be,
erdctty on the tlne, while ascent and descent pre-
sented none o the difficulties of the old-fashioned
chariot. 1t was found that the finest cabriolet
horse looked twice as well in a Brougham, and,
with the weight of his back and legs lasted twice
as long; besides, ii 1t were necessary to make
long journey, instead of succession of flashes,
through street or park then, by exchanging the
sixteen hands stopper for pair of light blood
horses, the Brougnam still became the most
agreeable conYeyance as long as the beauties
OF nature were not the object of the journey.
In the early days OF Broughams, attempts were
made to reproduce the chariot, with hammer
clCth and kniie-board for the calves, but
these were mistakes. The greatest mistake
OF all is burying a Brougham behind two
gigantic horses. A single horse, if well shaped
Ior harness, should not be under fifteen hands
three inches hign-siAteen hands one inch
ls better. Remarkable colors, even duns,
skewbalds, and white stockings, if with good
knee action, are permissible; but when a pair
are harnessed, about tIIeen hands one inch
is the most harmonious height; and blood
galoWaYs, even smaller, looG very well ii the
Brougham he bulC tor them. A single-horse
Brougham is essentially town carriage; taken
into the country. III is ant To deupnnrate into O.