English Pleasure Carriages: Their Origin, History, Varieties, Materials, Construction, Defects, Improvements, and Capabilities: with an Analysis of the Construction of Common Roads and Railroads, and the Public Vehicles Used on Them; Together with Descriptions of New Inventions ... |
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Common terms and phrases
action adapted advantage amongst Argand lamp axle axle-tree Barouche beneath body bolted Britzschka Cabriolet called carriage builders centre chariot circular coach colour common roads concussion cone considerable contrived convenience covered Curricle curved defects destructive wear durability elastic elliptic springs English pleasure Equirotal expense felloes fore wheels four-wheeled frame framework friction front gravity greater hammer-cloth heavy hind spring hoop horizontal horses improvement inches inclined plane increased invention iron iron-work lamp Landaulet leather leathern braces lever light locomotion Makers material means mechanical advantages metal morocco motion nave ordinary paint passengers patent perch perfect Phaeton placed plates pleasure carriages portion present principle purpose railroads rails riage roasting jack round screw seat shafts side side springs skill speed spokes steam straight sufficient suspended taste Tilbury timber tion travelling turn two-wheeled under-springs unsightly vehicle weight wheel carriages wood workmen wrought iron
Popular passages
Page 43 - Elisabeth, for she had been seven years a Queen before she had any coach ; since when, they have increased, with a mischief, and ruined all the best house-keeping, to the undoing of the watermen, by the multitudes of hackney or hired coaches : But they never swarmed so thick to pester the streets, as they do now, till the year 1605, and then was the gunpowder treason hatched, and at that time did the coaches breed and multiply.
Page 31 - It shall be covered with velvet red, And cloths of fine gold all about your head, With damask white and azure blue, Well diapered with lilies new. Your pommels shall be ended with gold, Your chains enamelled many a fold, Your mantle of rich degree, Purple pall and ermine free.
Page 51 - I have now left your houses, and am passing through your streets, but not in a coach, for they are uneasily hung, and so narrow, that I took them for sedans upon wheels. Nor is it safe for a stranger to use them till the ^quarrel be decided, whether six of your nobles, sitting together, shall stop and give way to as many barrels of beer.
Page 199 - So honour cross it from the north to south, And let them grapple : O ! the blood more stirs To rouse a lion than to start a hare.
Page 45 - Towards the end of the sixteenth century, John of Finland, on his return from England, among other articles of luxury, brought with him to Sweden the first coach. ^ Before that period, the greatest lords in Sweden, when they travelled by land, carried their wives with them on horseback. The princesses even travelled in that manner, and, when it rained, took with them a mantle of wax-cloth.
Page 43 - For the first, that ever was seen here, was brought out of the Netherlands, by one William Boonen, a Dutchman, who gave a coach to Queen Elisabeth, for she had been seven years a Queen before she had any coach...
Page 47 - Anderson, of Stralsund, in Pomerania, offered to bring coaches and waggons, with horses to draw, and servants to attend them, provided he had the exclusive privilege of keeping these carriages, which was accordingly secured to him by a royal patent, for fifteen years, during which he ran coaches between Edinburgh and Leith, at a fair of twopence each person.
Page 38 - The panels were of glass, and on this account they were called the imperial glass coaches. On festivals the harness was ornamented with red silk fringes. The imperial coaches were distinguished only by their having leather traces ; but the ladies in the imperial cuite were obliged to be contented with carriages the traces of which were made of ropes.
Page 54 - What the latter were, may be imagined from the fact, that when Charles III. of Spain visited England, and Prince George of Denmark went out to meet him, both princes were so impeded by the badness of the roads, that their carriages were obliged to be borne on the shoulders of the peasantry, and they were six hours in performing the last nine miles of their journey ! Abroad, little progress seems to have been made.
Page 31 - These pomelles* were doubtless the handles to the rods affixed towards the roof of the "chariette;" and were for the purpose of holding by, when deep ruts or obstacles in the road caused an unusual jerk in the vehicle : — in the illumination they are gilded. This coincidence with the other of the "lilies" in the " caretta," seems to identify the carriages as far as general construction is concerned.