COACH is a general name for a vehicle drawn by horses, designed for the conveyance of passengers, as distinguished from a wagon or cart, for the conveyance of goods. Coaches or inclosed carriages, drawn on wheels, and intended for passengers, were inventions which have been claimed by Hungary, England, Italy, France, Spain, and Germany. The name is derived by Wedgwood from Fr. coueher, to lie, which becomes in Dutch Icoetsen, whence koetse or kocts-icagen, a litter or carriage in which you may recline. The earliest record found by Beckmann relates to about the year 1280, when Charles of Anjou entered Naples, and his queen rode in a caretta—apparently a small but highly decorated car, from which the modern claret or chariot was derived, as well as other vehicles named chares and Marlette& It is believed that most of these vehicles had broad wheels, the only form suited for the wretched roads of those ages; and it is certain that all those of early date were open overhead. Many of the coaches used by the continental princes and nobles in the 16th c. were closed only to this extent—that they had canopies supported by ornamental pillars, and curtains of cloth, silk, or leather, which could be drawn easily aside. A glass C., or C. with glass windows, is specially mentioned as being used by an infanta of Spain in 1631. The traces of the coaches were at first made of rope; those only belonging to the highest personages were made of leather. It is believed to have been in the time of Louis XIV. that coaches were first suspended by leathern straps, in order to insure ease of motion.
The first C. ever seen in England is said to have been one made in 1555 by Walter Rippon for the earl of Rutland; and in 1564, the same builder made a showy vehicle for queen Elizabeth. Later in the reign, the royal carriages had sliding panels, so that the queen could show herself to her loving subjects whenever she desired. During the closing years of Elizabeth's reign, and early in the 17th c., the use of pleasure-carriages extended rapidly in England. The coaches had first to struggle against the opposition of the boatmen on the rivers, and then against that of the sedan owners and bearers; but they gradually came into very general use. The successive steps whereby the
coaches of those days gave way to the elegant vehicles of the present, need not be traced in detail, even if there were the means to do so.
The following are some of the chief kinds of pleasure-carriages: The dennet is a two-wheeled vehicle for one horse, with a jointed hood or head covered with leather, and a driving-box. The stanhope bears some resemblance to the dennet. The tilbury is in like manner a two-wheeled vehicle for one horse; but it has pliable leathern braces between the springs and the body of the vehicle, together with suspension brackets. The cabriolet belongs to the same class as the tilbury. The name cab is an abbreviation of cabriolet, but it has come to be applied to a four-wheeled vehicle. The eurricle is a two-wheeled vehicle for two horses; there are no shafts, but a pole, fixed to a frame which supports the body, passes between the horses, and is suspended from a metal bar resting on their backs. The phaeton is a four-wheeled vehicle which may be drawn either by one or two horses; its front body is something like that of a dennet or stan• hope, and behind this is an open seat, supported on a kind of large box. The roach is a closed four-wheeled vehicle for two or more horses, with two seats inside, and a skill fully constructed arrangement of springs to insure ease of motion. The chariot, or chaise of modern days, usually differs from the C. in having only one seat. The landau is a C. made to open occasionally. The barouche is permanently open, with only a leathern hood or head over it. The britzschka is a kind of small barouche. In addition to these, our Dge has witnessed the manufacture of the .brougham, a miniature coach usually for two persons, but in which four may be accommodated; and the Clarence, a pair-horse carriage with movable glazed panels and hood, and for two or more persons.