COACH (Fr. cock', Ger. Kutsche, probably from Hung. boost, coach, named after a little place called Koes (pronounced Koch) in western Hungary). A heavy inclosed four-wheeled car riage for the conveyance of passengers. The con struction of the coach differs from that of other inclosed vehicles in the following particulars: (1) The roof forms a part of the framing of the body, and in this respect the construction is different from other covered carriages in which the roof is simply a canopy supported by iron rods or wooden pillars. (21 coaches from the earliest times were suspended on springs. The coach sent by Ladislas, King of Hungary, to Charles VII. of France, is described as a carriage the body of which 'trembled.' (3) A coach is always designed with more than one seat for passengers.
According to Thrum) (see Bibliography be low), coaches were first made in the town of Koes, Hungary. and were so called from the name of the town, just as landaus and berlins are named from the towns which produced them. The same author traces their development from the huge agricultural wagons used on the Conti nent in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, which were so constructed that, by different ad justment, they could carry a long timber, a cask of wine, a load of hay, or a family. The
coaches of the Middle Ages were very elaborate affairs, used only by royalty and nobility, and for purposes of state. As late as 1550 there were only tlrree coaches in Paris; one of these belonged to the Queen, another to Diana of Poi tiers, and a third to a nobleman who was too corpulent to ride a horse. In 1631 a 'glass coach,' that is. a coach with glass windows, was built for the Infanta of Spain.
The first coach ever seen in England was made in 1555 by Walter Rippou for the Earl of Rut land; in 1564 the same builder made a showy vehicle for Queen Elizabeth. Later in her reign the royal coaches were constructed with sliding panels, so that the Queen could show herself to her subjects whenever she desired.