COACHES AND COACH-MAKING. It is stated by Stow, that in '1561, Boonen, a Dutchman, became the queen's coachman, and was the first that brought the use of coaches into England.' A long time elapsed before this luxury was attained by more than a few very rich and distinguished individuals, and a very much longer time before coaches became general. Coaches let for hire were first established in.1 England in 1625; they did not stand in the streets, but at the principal inns. In 1637 there were, in London and Westminster, 50 hackney-coaches. Stage-coaches were first used in England soon after the introduction of hired carriages. The first mail coach tra velled from London to Edinburgh about 1785, and to Glasgow in 1788.
The use of stage-coaches rapidly extended itself; and from the latter part of the last century, until the establishment of railways, there was scarcely any small town through which some stage. coach did not pass, and no considerable road which was not tritNelled by many. In this country the best stage-coaches were very perfect machines, and the arrange ments by which they were conducted, when the number of persons and animals that were engaged is considered, were extremely com plete. The principal stage-coaches ran with four horses, and the rate of travelling among the fast coaches was rapid. In 1833, the dis tance between London and Shrewsbury (154 miles), Exeter (171 miles), and Manchester (187 miles), was done in a day. The mail to Holyhead did the 'al miles in 27 hours, and that to Liverpool, 203 miles, in 21 hours. The coaches were on springs, and, though strong, were light and elegant: The omnibus, a sort of long-bodied coach, was introduced into London in 1831. We shall have some details to give in a later ar ticle, concerning the hired vehicles of London. [Osxsieusxs AND CABS.) The coaches which form the trains upon railroads are of very different construction from those used on common roads; they are stronger, larger, and heavier : they are fastened together with links of chain, and there is attached to the back and front of each a 'fender' by which concussion is prevented when the train is stopped.
Upon the Continent, travelling in public car riages was never so rapid or so commodious as in England. In France the diligences were, and those which still exist are,clumsy carriages, generally consisting of three bodies, and are drawn by five or six horses, usually driven by One postilion from his saddle. The first bOdy,
called the ' coupe, formed like a chariot, con tains three people ; the second, which is like a coach, the 'interieur,' holds six persons; the third, which is similar to a coach turned sidewise, carries six or eight passengers, and is called the ' rotonde.' In addition to these, there is on the roof, before the place appro priated to the luggage, the ' banquette,' a bench sometimes furnished with a hood for the accommodation of four passengers. But every where the use of the railroad is super seding the old stage-coach on all the great lines of road in all highly civilised coun tries.
In the making of coaches or carriages, as a highly skilled department of manufacture ; the timber, the iron, the leather, the brass and plated metals, the trimmings, and other ma terials, are wrought by wholly distinct bodies of operatives ; and there are many minor divisions of each class. The ' body-makers' produce the vehicle or body itself, while the carriage-makers' are employed on the stouter and stronger timbers beneath and around the body. The chief kinds of wood employed are ash, beech, elm, oak, mahogany, cedar, pine, deal, fustic, birch, and larch—each kind appro priated to the purpose for which its fibrous nature best fits it. In working up these varie ties of timber, tools and processes are em• ployed similar to those in cabinet-making, together with others peculiar to coach-making.
The various forms of the coach, gig, dennet, curricle, tilbury, stanhope, &c., lead to the exercise of much ingenuity in fashioning the wood-work to the requisite curved forms. The axles on which the wheels work, the springs which protect the carriage from concussion, and the iron perch which is sometimes used instead of wood, are the work of the coach smith,' one of the most highly paid classes of London workmen. The coating of the body of the coach with leather is a most difficult and delicate art; and the subsequent painting, trimming, and decorating, all rank among the highest kinds in their respective classes. Coach-axles have been made the subject of patents; and so indeed have many other im provements in the manufacture of parts of coaches. So far as regards workmanship and processes, carts and waggons bear almost the same relation to coaches that carpentry does to cabinet-making; similar in character, but coarser.