The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-12-29
ON CHAIRS.

a chair must have been one OF the most
ancient of inventions. After the use of fire,
after the rudest forms of grinding aud
weaving, something to sit down upon must
have presented itself as the next desideratum.
But it must not be supposed that chair was
the direct result. AS Lord Lytton says
''Man has only given to him, not the
immediate knowledge of the perfect but the
means to strive towards the perfect" And
he elsewhere observes Man must build
hut before he can build Parthenon."
At work in the primeval forest, telling
trees and clearing the ground, man may first
have experienced the comfort of raised seat
by placing himself on the stump of tree.
But, however eligible this support might be
in other respects, it labored under the disad-
vantage of being immovable. brilliant
thought no sooner conceived than acted
upon; and perhaps several generations passed
before some great genius hit upon the idea
of obvating the cumbersomeness of these
heavy, solid blocks by fastening piece of
plank on three supporters, and producing a
three-legged stool. The tradition runs that
Tarquin introduced the ivory curule chairs
into Rome; be this as it may, they were in
use in the time of Brutus, who, though he
destroyed the kingly power, and changed
the Constitution of Rome from a monarchy
into republic, knew how far he could
safely go, and did not care to touch
the chairs. The pr@tors and ediles who were
permitted to occupy them, esteemed the pri-
vilege so highly that they retained the curule
chair at home after their term of Office had
expired, as proof of the dignity to which they
had attained These Roman officials were so
much attached to their seats that they would
not part with them when they went
abroad, but had chairs placed upon Wheels
and in these chariots, often deliberately orna-
mented with gold and precious stones, they
showed themselves to the admiring, unseated
multitude. The Romans considered it an
honor to ride in these wheeled curules that
were remarkably high," Pliny tells us-a
convenient method of acquainting the spec
tators with the degree of homage expected
from them, equivalent to the method en-
plOyed by artists of olden times, who always
depicted kings and heroes as at least twice
the size of ordinary men.
There is nothing new under the sun, J"
saith the preacher. At the period known in
art language as the Renaissance, the modern
European was struck with the idea of going
about in chairs. About the year 1851 COW
cred chairs, slung on poles, were invented at
Sedan, whence the name of these convey
ances. Sir Sanders Duncombe obtained q
patent for the Sedan chair in 1884, and by
1649 they were in general use. In III an
act was passed limiting the number of
licensed Sedan chairs to 200, but in 1926 it
was increased to 40O This act, however,
did not affect the use of private chairs.
When the favorite, Buckingham, used this
mode of conveyance, he was hooted at by
the public, who cried that he was employing
his fellow-creatures to do the service of
beasts; but this prejudice soon gave way,
and the Sedan chair, often handsomely gilt
and painted, became part of the furniture of
the hall in the houses of the nobility and the
wealthier classes, and the chairmen formed
part Of every large establisbment.-1e Temple
Bar.