was in use in his own time for the easy conveyance of great people.
The next step, however, in the advance of Coachbuilding, would be the use of a better body than that of a mere cart. Such was the case with the Horse Litter [[Plate 9]]. These were long and narrow—long enough for a person to recline in—and no wider than could be carried between the poles which are placed on either side of the horses. They were about 4 ft. to 5 ft. long, and 2 ft. 6 in. wide, with low sides and higher ends. The entrance was in the middle, on both sides, the doors being formed sometimes by a sliding panel and sometimes simply by a cross-bar. The steps were of leather or iron loops, the latter being hinged to turn up when the litter was placed on the ground. The upper part was formed by a few broad wooden hoops, united along the top by four or five slats, and over the whole a canopy was placed, which opened in the middle, at the sides and ends, for air and light. The first pleasure-waggon bodies were made in a similar fashion to the horse-litters, but rather longer and wider, with similar doors. By degrees these bodies were ornamented with carving, and the slats of the tilt-top were exchanged for poles, whose ends were ornamented with metal rosettes, or animals’ heads, and gilt. I have not found any certain date at which these bodies were first suspended upon straps or braces. The suspension of a hammock from the standard posts of a waggon, and of the litter from the harness of the horses, would, however, suggest the suspension of these improved waggon bodies from the same standard posts. I have seen in a very early picture in oil, at Nuremberg, two waggons such as I have described, with carved and gilt standard posts both in front of and behind the body, the tilt-tops have the middle of the sides cut out square, and made to turn over the top, and the driver sits outside the waggon body between the standards.