ry of Commerce_, says
that Antwerp possessed 500 coaches in 1560. France and England appear to
have been behind the rest of Europe at this period.

The first coach in England was made in 1555 for the earl of Rutland by
Walter Rippon, who also made a coach in 1556 for Queen Mary, and in 1564
a state coach for Queen Elizabeth. That one of the carriages used by
Queen Elizabeth could be opened and closed at pleasure may be inferred
from her causing at Warwick during one of her progresses--"every part
and side of her coach to be opened that all her subjects present might
behold her, which most gladly they desired."

Coaches of the type now properly so-called were first known in England
about the year 1580, and were introduced, according to Stow, from
Germany by Henry Fitzalan, 12th earl of Arundel. By the beginning of the
17th century the use of coaches had become so prevalent in England that
in 1601 the attention of parliament was drawn to the subject, and a bill
"to restrain the excessive use of coaches" was introduced, which,
however, was rejected on the second reading. Their use told severely on
the occupation of the Thames watermen, and Taylor the poet and waterman
complained bitterly both in prose and verse against the new-fangled
practice:--

"Carroaches, coaches, jades, and Flanders mares
Doe rob us of our shares, our wares, our fares.
Against the ground we stand and knock our heels
Whilest all our profit runs away on wheeles."

The sneers of wits and watermen notwithstanding, coaches became so
common, that in the early part of the 17th century they were estimated
to number more than 6000 in London and its surrounding country.

We now arrive gradually at the modern conception of carriage-building.
No trace of glass windows or complete doors for coaches seems to have
existed up to 1650. But plain and rude as was the first coach of Louis
XIV., it was in his reign, which lasted till 1715, that the most rapid
progress was made. The credit for this is equally due to Germany, Italy,
France and England. There is very little mention made by historians of
steel springs, but they were first applied to wheel carriages about
1670, prior to which bodies were suspended by long straps from the four
corners to pillars erected upon the under carriage. The great advantage
of the introduction of springs was speedily recognized as reducing
vibration, enabling carriages to be built much lighter and lessening the
draught