The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-07-03
TWELVE PA GEES.
neither is the dress of the ooachman; and
two footmen only occupy the rumble.

two footmen only occupy the rumble
| By the side of the old State coach the
Lord Mayors coach fades into insignif-
canoe. 1t is of the most wonderful and
gorgeous construction, and was built at
cost of nearly eight thousand pounds for
the coronation of George Ill. 1t never
| goes out now; were it to do so it would
be sure to attract huge crowd, so elabo.
rate and highly ornamented is it in ap-
pearance. 1t was designed by Sir William
Chambers, and has some magnificent
paintings on it by Gpriani. To give you
an idea of the extreme beauty of these
paintings, I may tell you that ten thous-
and pounds has been offered for the panel
OF one doorway, should the coach ever
be broken up. 1t has only been seen in
public twice during our Queens reign
at her coronation, and again in 1861. The
carriage and body is composed as, fol-
lows: Large Tritons support the body by
braces covered with red morocco leather;
the two figures in front bearing the
driver, whose footboard is large scollop
she'll. The body of the coach itself is
composed of eight palm trees, which,
branching out at the top, support the
roof. The victories of Great Britain in
war are illustrated in trophies supported
by lions On the centre of the roof three
figures represent the genii of England.
Scotland and Ireland, who support in
their hands the Sceptre, Sword of State
and Imperial Crown. The whole of the
paintings are allegorical Taking it en-
tire, the coach is so deliberately orna-
mented with beautifully gilt carved
work of every description that it is per-
Iectly impossible to go into details. The
inside is lined with rich scarlet embossed
veivet' laced and embroidered with gold;
the imperial crown, arms and various or
ders being also displayed. The harness
USED In conjunction with this coach is
maze OF red morocco leather, and deco
rated with blue ribbons, royal arms, and
other richly gilt ornaments. / may saw
that its entire length--without horses-is
twenty -four feet, with height of four.
teen feet; the total weight is upwards of
four tons.
The Queen and the Prince Consort did
not much approve of this gorgeous but
numbering old vehicle, and so when thew
Went over to Dublin in 1916 they ordered
another one to be built there. This is in
much the same style as the coach of the
Princess of Wales, but the royal arms
here are inlaid and not painted. 1t is.
OF course, on G springs, and has India
rubber tires, which secure perfection of
easy motion
Another carriage, known as the Queens
landau, Is always used to fetch Her Maj
esty from the stations or to take long
drives. 1t Is painted in black, pricked
out with red, lined with blue silk rep.
and has massive rubber tires. This is
generally horsed by four bays Then
comes the Queens two-horse carriage, of
similar but lighter build. All these are
used by the sovereign only. Of course,
IN addition to the special carriages 1
have mentioned, there are large number
used by the various members of the
Royal Family. For instance, when the
Princess Christian, the Duchess of AL
bany, or any other of the Queens family
opens bazaar, or attends any one of
the many charitable institutions under
their patronage, the horses and carriages
are supplied from the royal news.
The stables, of course, are not of mod
ern construction; but they are capacious
and well ventilated, and it Is hardly nec-
essary to say that they are kept up to the
pitch of cleanly perfection. The creams
and blacks occupy one large stable to
!, | fbay lor IL.
name of the animal occupyingit. One OF
two of them are remarkably clever in I'M
J derstanding what is said to them, and it
WAS with supreme delight that the State
coachman showed me some special tricks
of one Of the black Flemish horses. Many
of these animals are named after British
battles: thus you see Tel-el-K ebir, Kas-
sassin, Chitral, etc.; these names are
chosen by the Grand Equerry. When the
Royal Family are in town this stable is a
favorite afternoon resort of the Princes
!, and Princesses, who most of them take
very great interest in these rare animals
and make practice Of feeding them with
J sugar and apples.
There are many other horses-special
ones, well worthy of note among those
eserved exc lu sively for riding. One is
fayorite of the Duke of Connaught, and
another was often used by the late Prince
of Battenb,rg; those, too, that are rid
den by the Equerries in Ordinary are fine
animals, and very pretty they look in
their semi-military dress; in fact, there
is little to distinguish them from the one
ridden by the Master of the Horse him
self.
While the Royal News are open to visit
ors, it is not the easiest matter In the
world to obtain permission to see them
and the wonders in horseiesh and coach
!, building they contain. Still, q very large
proportion of the crowd that comes and
goes is composed of Americans, who take
the keenest interest in all that they see
The English grooms and caretakers adj
70 CHI tha Gil ~ -,