which was one marked by the display of great wealth, and the indulgence of most luxurious living, several new and larger vehicles were introduced, and many were decorated in a costly manner.

The third epoch commences with the introduction of vehicles slung upon leather straps, and may be considered to end about the year 1700, when the use of steel springs began to be understood.

The fourth epoch will end in 1790, when coaches began to assume their present form, size, and style.

And the last epoch must commence with the introduction of carriages hung wholly on elliptic springs, about 1805, by Mr Obadiah Elliott. This last and surprising change has been productive of very important results to all interested in the use of carriages or in Coachbuilding.

By the introduction of elliptic springs the construction of wheeled vehicles has been rendered less costly, their weight has been materially reduced, and many complicated parts have been abandoned. Simultaneously the number of vehicles has been multiplied, and their comfort and accommodation have been increased.

We may fairly suppose the first means of locomotion entitled to the name of a carriage to have been a sledge. It would be so natural to place a burden, too heavy for the shoulders, on some slight framework, and drag it over the ground. A very little experience would enable a man to judge of the best form for a sledge; and, in point of fact, the first sledge of which we find any record, on a sculpture of the Temple of Luxor, at Thebes, in Egypt, is precisely similar to that used by brewers’ draymen in London. It has two long runners slightly turned upwards in front, and half-a-dozen cross pieces to unite the runners and bear the burden.

Sledges of many shapes and fashions are in use during the winter in most countries where snow lies for any length of time upon the ground, as sledges glide more easily over its surface than do wheels. The Esquimaux and the Laplanders habitually use sledges, all more raised from the ground than the sledge that carries the casks of the brewers. The Swiss and other inhabitants of mountain districts use sledges to bring down hewn timber and faggots to the valleys; and a hundred years ago, when carts were not so numerous, it was common in England to load the new-made hay or sheaves of wheat on light high sledges for transport to the farm yard. In North America and Northern Europe, sledges of elegant shape are every year in use; and in Holland and Belgium, during some winters, not only do the gentry ride in sledges two or three months, but the meat, bread, and vegetables are run through the streets daily on hand sledges.

Egypt is the chief of the countries of which we have any record of the arts and manufactures introduced by the progress of civilisation. Egypt had, at an early period, buildings composed of very large stones; in moving these the sledge and the roller were used; and it is natural that these should be combined to form a low truck or platform moving on rollers. Later on, wheels and axles were substituted for rollers; at first wheels were slices of the trunk of a tree, all solid pieces of wood, and firmly wedged to the axles. Thus the wheels and axle revolved together below the cart or truck, and were retained in their position by strong wooden pins like the thole-pins or rowlocks of a boat. The wheels and axle revolve together in tramway cars and in railway carriages. Carts are made in this way now in Portugal, Spain, and in South America. All the earlier carts seem to have been fitted only with a pole, and at least two animals seem always to have been yoked together to the vehicle. The objection to the wheels and axle in one piece is, that it is difficult to turn a vehicle thus fitted in a small space. Any one using a garden-roller round a corner may easily convince himself of this, for whilst the outer edge of the roller is going over the necessary sweep, the inner edge is sliding on and crushing the gravel walk; it should be moving independently. It was soon discovered in Egypt that it was better to have a fixed axle-tree, and allow the wheels to revolve independently of one another.

A wheeled carriage appears to have been in very general use in Egypt at an early period, called a car or chariot: in the Bible it is usually translated “chariot.” There are paintings and sculptures upon the walls of the temples and tombs of Egypt which have lasted four thousand years, and from those we learn precisely the appearance of these chariots. They are of great interest to us, as they formed the chief means of conveying man for two thousand years before Christ, and were more or less the type of all other vehicles of the ancient world.

We find certain words used in describing them, both by Homer, who lived a thousand years before Christ, and by Moses, who lived at least five hundred years earlier, and that the words are technical terms, such as axles, wheels, naves, felloes, tyres, spokes, &c. Now technical terms imply that the art that had such terms must have existed prior to the writer who speaks of the art, so that, if we hesitated as to the date of the chariots sculptured and painted on the walls of the Egyptian temples, we are reassured by the terms used by the authors we name. Moses, in the description of the wheels upon which moved the great cauldron used by the priest, and Homer, in describing the car of the goddess Juno, used the same terms. We read in the fifth book of the Iliad, “The awful Juno led out the golden-bitted horses, whilst Hebe fitted the whirling wheels on the iron axles of the swift chariot. The wheels had each eight brazen spokes, the felloes were of gold secured with brazen tyres all round, admirable to the sight. The seat was of gold, hung by silver cords; the beam (or pole) was of silver, at the end of which was hung the golden yoke and the golden reins.”

These cars [Plate 1, Figure 1] were occasionally square, but more generally semicircular or horse-shoe shaped; the rounded front towards the horses was high, the sides lower, the back was open, and the bottom was near the ground, so that it was easy to step in and out. The wheels, especially in Egypt, were very low, from 2 ft. 6 in. to 3 ft. 3 in. in height. The framework of the body was often open, but sometimes closed up with leather skins or basket-work, and occasionally with carved wood or embossed metal. The pole by which it was supported curved up from the bottom of the bar to the backs of the necks of the horses or oxen, where it was joined to a wooden yoke, this was again strapped round the bodies and necks of the horses, or tied to the horns of the oxen. The addition of bridles and reins would complete the simple harness. Some horses were attached to the pole by an iron bar with knobs at each end, which passed through a ring at the end of the pole, and through a similar ring upon each of the pads or saddles of the horses. This would be very similar to the curricle bars used in modern times, and would allow of more

PLATE 1.



FIG: 1. EGYPTIAN CAR,