Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1893-05-11

lEtoAh tuc Londun DAAiy lt4eKrhphl
When his holiness the pope is carried
In bis chair on poles supported on the
shoulders of twelve servitors from the sals
Resia to the Sixtine chapel. and occasion.
ally into the logia above the portico of St
Peters. he practically uses sedan withou,
roof, and 1t was in these chairs on poles
that the Roman mAsnifcoes, sneersd at BY
Juvensl, were borne through the crowded
streets of Rome. These uncovered sedsns
must not be COMPOUNDED with the ancient
litters, which very much resemblod In
shape the palanouins which may be seen
every day in the streets of Calcutta, and
which was kind of bed, wherein the in
mate reclined either on his elbow or at full
length. Wealthy Romans when they trav-
elled through the provinces of the empire
sat In covered sedan chair during the
day, and lay in a covtd litter throughout
the night. 1t Is g curious fact, as regards
the oriental palAnquin, that in 1854 the
court of directors of the East India com
pany ordered that their coveusnted ser
wants should ''lay aside the expense of
either horse, chair, or pAlsrq uin during
their writsrship," on the ground that in
dulgtng these embryo nsbobs with chairs
on poles, borne by coolies, contributed not
q little &c "the neglec. of business, and Af-
forded them. opportunities for rambling"
Little more than half q century afterwards
we find the frugal and self denying Sir
Arthur WELLESLEY writing to Ms ior Shaw to
gtveorders for q pAlanq u.n TO be made for
him Precise In this as In most other mat
ters, the hero of Asssye directed that his
palapquin should be Every Light, " that the
panels should be made ''of canvas instead
of wood, and the poles Hxed as for a dhoo-
lie" "Your Bepgsi pslsnquins, adds
the future victor Of Waterloo, "srs 90
heavy that they csnnot be used out of CAL
cutta."
To traveller of moderate means. the
principal expense of the palAnquin was in
the number of relay bearers required to
carry 1t. This mattered little TO the Ro-
mans, since the bssrers were nearly alwsys
slaves. and the price OF labor in HindustAn
is moderate enough to warrant the employ
ment Of q large number of besrers; but In
France. In the seventeenth century, there
was Duchess Of Nemours who half ruined
herself by her craze for travelling back
wards aud forwards in her sedan to her
principality of Neufchatel, which Was sit-
usted at distance of l30 leagues from
aggregate to ffty men, always accompanied
the duehets on these Journeys, one of
which took ten days to accomplish, and the
cost of paying, lodging, and feeding these
retainers was necessarily prodigious.
French experts stoutly maintain that the
ss3sn ShEsr -sc invented by 'fLa Refine
Margot," the frat wife of Henry w; but
1t can only be proved that the sprightly
Queen in question svailed herself so con-
stsntly of the facilities offered by an un-
covered sedan that it Is Almost to be won
dered at that the vehicle did not come to
be called 'tmsrgoi" instead of ''chsise
q porteurs." In any case 1t Ia certain that
the first covered and closed eedans were
into France at the beginning
of the reign of Louis XIII, by the Marquis
de Montbrun, snd that shortly afterwards
q concession for building them was granted
to three Partisan finaneiers.