CARRIAGE, a grneral name given to all vehicles used with wheels, for the conveyance of any weight, goods, or passengers ; but now more commonly applied to those for the latter purpose, such as coach, chaise, &e. In this sense carriages are of undoubted antiquity. They are frequently mentioned under the name of chariots in the Old Testament. Chariots were in use in Greece, particularly at the Olympic games.
The Romans used carriages of different kinds, and under different names. The arccra is mentioned in the 12 tables ; the lectica followed ; then the carpentum, and still later the carruca, which last was considered a first rate machine, and often highly ornamented with gold and precious stones. After these, covered carriages of various kinds were used as appendages of Roman pomp and grandeur, until the manner of thinking which pre vailed under the feudal system banished them for a time. Indeed so early as the reign of Julius Caesar, carriages were even let to hire in Rome, as appears from Sueto nius, who, speaking of that emperor, says, Longissimas vias incrcdiGili celeritate confecit, expeditus, meritoria rcda, eentina passuum millia in singular dies. (See Sue tonius, lih. i. cap. 57.) In latter times, it would be diffi cult to say at what precise period, of what kind, or in what nation, carriages vs ere again introduced. Histo rians appear to have taken little interest in them, as few have mentioned them at all, and those few but slightly; nor ought we to be surprised at this, when we consider the low state of mechanical arts, the little intercourse between neighbouring powers in mercantile matters, and the necessity, in feudal times, of princes hat Mg their lords and vassals trained up in the use of arms, and, of course, not indulged in any thing bordering upon luxu ry or effeminacy. In this state of things there was hardly an opening for carriages, as kings, lords, and common ers, all rode on horseback ; and even the women and the clergy had no other mode of conveyam e, except on mules or asses. Indeed so strong was the prejudice against carriages, that edicts were published prohibiting their use, at the same time that they were sometimes allowed, by special favour, to invalids, and women of the highest rank. No wonder then that historians should not accu rately detail the introduction of carriages, which their princes beheld with a jealous eye, considering them as fit only to enervate their vassals, and of course weaken their own power ; and which it is hardly possible they could divine, should, at some future period, become rot merely of utility, but of absolute necessity ; affording the chief means of internal intercourse betwixt place and place to the inhabitants of almost the whole civilized world, and their manufacture furnishing employment to thousands.
It would appear from an ordinance of Philip the Fair of France, issued in 1294, for suppressing luxury, that carriages were known at that time in Paris, as the citi zens' wives were therein forbid the use of carriages (cars.) About the end of the thirteenth century, when Charles of Anjou made his entrance into Naples, the queen rode in a carriage called at that time carrtta, the outside and inside of which were covered with sky blue velvet, interspersed with golden lilies. The Emperor Frederick III. seems to have used a close carriage in his journies to Frankfort in The Eiectress of B•andenburgh, and Duchess of Alecklenburgh, and some others, displayed elegant carriages in 1509. In 1550 there were in Paris three coaches, said by some to have belonged to the queen, to Diana de Poictiers, and to Rene de Laval, Lord of Bois Dauphin, who was such a corpulent and unwieldy nobleman as to be unable to ride on horseback. Others say the three first carriages be longed to Catherine de Medicis, Diana Duchess of An gouleme, who died 1619, and Christopher de Thou, first president of the Parliament. Henry IV. was assassi nated in a coach; and he appears to have had one only, from a letter he writes to a friend, in which he says, " I cannot wait upon you to-day, because my wife is using my coach." (Varietes Historiryues, p. 92.) Roubo, in his voluminous Treatise on Joiner Work, has given drawings of carriages such as were used in the time of Henry IV. From these drawings we see, that there were neither straps nor springs in use at that pe riod. From the same work it would appear, that the coach in which Louis XIV. made his public entry, was hung upon straps without springs ; and there are also given several drawings of carriages with springs. (L'?rt de Menziisier, Carrossier, par M. Roubo le Fils ; See Description des ./Irts et Metiers, fol. 1770, vol. x. p. 453.) In 1562, the Elector of Cologne had several carriages. In 1594, the AIargrave John Sigismund had, at Warsaw, 36 carriages, with six horses each, (Suite dcs Armoires pour servir a l'Hist. de Brandenburg, p. 63.) where, the royal author acids, " the common use of carriages is not older than the time of John Sigismund." In The Triumph of Maximilian, a work executed in the years 1516, 1517, and 1518, the curious reader will find plates of various carriages or cars, some drawn by horses, some by stags, some by camels, others impelled forward by means of different combinations of toothed wheels, worked by men. Of one of the most remarka ble of them, we have given an exact copy, in Plate CX X Xl.; and we are inclined to think that the idea of the walking crane may have been taken from this ve hicle.