The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1871-11-18
TRAVELLING IN THE OLDEN TINE.
sedan Chair. and coaches.
From the N. z. Evening Poat.

From the N. T. Evening Poat.
q How our Ancestors Travelled " b the title
OF an article in Tanpae Bur- for October, in
which the writer relates maLy curious facts
concerning the loeomotion of the English
pe0p1e two centuries ago. The earliest mode
OF travelling was on horseback Carts and
chariOts of = rude construction have been
used from very early times, but carriages
that can In any way be considered as the
precursors Of our present elegant vehicles
Wero not invented or brought inte use until
the middle ages and for many years after the
first introduction Of coaches they were only
used by ladies, and by them only upon State
occasions. Kings and knights considered all
kinds of carriages ~ efieminate machines, and
Scomed to be seen within them Judges and
AAYyern y0Ae- thA-ninAaaita,- IAhDsiaiana Visited
tnefr patients on horseback, dnd popes,
bishops and abbots ambled on quiet horses or
mules As late as the reign Of Francis |.
there were only three coaches in Paris. The
fashion Of the modern coach was of slow
growth, and was originally very different from
what they afterwards became. At first they
were open at the top, but in the course of
time canopy Was added. As glass windows
were not introduced into carriages until many
years after their first introduction, they were
long closed up with shutters. When Queen
Elizabeth visited Warwick in 1872, the bailitf
is said to have approached near to her coach
and she caused every part and side Of the
coach to be opened that all her subjects might
behold her, which most gladly they desired.
Coaches were built in the most substantial
manner with broad wheels in order to make
taem suitable for the bad roads, and the
traces were usually made of rope. Suspend
ed carriages were not known before the reign
OF Louis XIV, and the fearful tumhlings and
tOssings Of the numbering springless car
rit-es rs they jolted over the bad roads can
be easier imagined than described. The Lon
don coaches were built very narrow, SO that
they might be able to run along the miserable
streets but after the rire they were Widened.
The first improvement in carriages came from
France, and the Count de GTammOnt gained
great ectdt at the Court Of Charles III. by
bringing over an elegant Calash which cost
him two thousand louis. He presented the
beautiful vehicle to the King, and the Queen
and Duchess of York rode in it for the first
time, to their own contentment and the ad-
miratiOn of the whole court.
LITTERs AND sEDANs
The disgraceful state Of the roads made it
necessary for ladies and invalids TO adopt
some easy sort of conveyance, and We find,
therefore, that litters were in frequent Use
from the earliest times. Although these were
unusually borne by men. they were sometimes
lAshed 10 horses Or mules Hollinshed thus
describes the litter in which Anne Boieyn
was triumphantly conveyed through London
Then came the Quecne in litter of white
cloth of gold, not covered nor bailed, which
was led by two palfries clad in white damask
dOone To the ground, head and all, led BY hir
fOotmal. Over hir was borne a canOpie of
cloth Of gold, with foure guilt slaves and foure
silver bells. For the bearing of which cano-
pie were appointed sixteene knights, fOure to
beare il one space on foote, and another foure
smother space, !" etc. Marie de Aedicis, moth
er of Queen Henrietta Maria, who had pre-
Vi0uslv Travelled rom Harwich IN 4 coach en-
fnNaA m N a tfar par hu
two mules. When these litters were borne
by men, a certain amount of popular dissatis-
faction was exhibited against them, as is eX
pressed by Massinger in his "Bondman"
"'Tis a strong-limbd knaye
NV father bought him fer my sisters litter
D pride OF woman coaches are too common,
They -urfeit in the happiness Of peace,
And ladies think they keep not state enough
II for their pomp and ease they are not borne
In triumph on men shoulders
Sedan chairs were somewhat the same kind
Of conveyance as litters, but usually of a
more elegant character. They were intro
duced from Spain BY the Duke Of Bucking
ham, who was charged with degrading Eng
lishmen into beasts Of burden The people
were at first quite enraged at the novelty, and
rallied on the Duke as he passed along the
streets.
HACKNEY COACHES
were first introduced into London at the prin-
cipal hotels about the year 1928, aud in 1854
the first public stand was established. g.
Garrard describes the circumstance, in a let
ter to Lord Stafford, as follows: Gap
tain Bailey-he hath been a sea-captain, but
now lives on the land, about this city,
where he tries experiments-he hath erected,
according to his ability, some four hackney
coaches, put his men in a livery, and ap-
pointed them to stand at the May Pole in
the Strand. giving them instructions ut what
rates to carry men into several parts of the
town, when all day they may be had Other
hackney men, seeing this way, they Hooked to
the same place, and performed their journey
at the same rate So that sometimes there is
20 of them together, which disperse up and
down, that they and Others are to be had
everywhere, as watermen are to be had by the
waterside. Everybody is much pleased with
it for whereas before coaches could not 10
had but at great rates, now q man may have
one much cheaper"
Hackney coaches were restrained from hir-
ing and driving on the Sabbath, but in 1893
this restraint was in part taken off for 175
coaches were licensed for Sundays, SO that the
whole number Of 100 might be employed sue
cessively.
Coming down to a Later period we
find that in the days when George III.
was King and George Nv. was Prince Of
Wales, fashionable mon ran mad with the de-
sire to outrival each other in the splendor Of
the vehicles they drove. The phaeton and
curricle were two Of the chief favOrites, but
the former was at first q most unsightly
object Many of the varieties OF carriages
still remain In use as the landau, barouche,
britzka chariot and family coach; but the
two latter have nearly died out, by reason of
the superior convenience of the brougham
and clarence The old chariot-and four is
altogether q thing Of the past but 1t occa-
sionally did great things In its day, as when
Lord Londonderry spoke In the House Of
Lords one night, and was $50 miles of, at his
own door in Durham on the next
night. The Vis-d-Vis was once a
very fashionable carriage, which held two
persons, who sat opposite to each other.
Carriages to hold two or more were compan-
iOnable, but DIR. Darwin found that he lost
much time by being sOciable SO he built
carriage to hold only one person, In order
that he might not be expected to ask any one
to accompany him in his drives. He COM
posed his poetry In il as he went to his more
distant patients, and his disappointed n1ends
called it sulky."
One horse cabs were first introduced as
public conveyances in the year 1873, but they
were not intended to supersede the hackney
coaches, and were quite different from the
present four-wheelers. Several varieties were
introduced from time to time, but most Of
them had only two wheels One was some
what like a gentleman's cabrioiet with hood,
and had the drivers seat at the side. An
other had the door at the back, and was in
tended to accommodate two passengers, who
sat sideways. AS the cabs were gradually
made TO hold four persons, they in time
superseded the hackney coaches. Omni-