STATE COACH.
State coaches were very handsome, being elaborately painted, carved, and gilt, a fine coach and many servants being indispensable to a person of rank.
But even in that age of luxuriously appointed equipages everyone was astonished at the magnificence of that of the Venetian ambassador. Luttrell notes it on May 20, 1707: 'Yesterday the Venetian ambassadors made their publick entry thro' this citty to Somerset House in great state and splendour, their Coach of State embroidered with gold, and the richest that ever was seen in England: they had two with 8 horses, and eight with 6 horses, trimm'd very fine with ribbons, 48 footmen in blew velvet cover'd with gold lace, 24 gentlemen and pages on horseback, with feathers in their hats.' And the novelty does not seem to have worn off, for, four years afterwards, Swift writes to Stella: 'This evening I saw the Venetian Ambassador coming from his first public audience. His coach is the most monstrous, huge, fine, rich, gilt thing that ever I saw.' He also writes her, Feb. 6, 1712: 'Nothing has made so great a noise as one Kelson's Chariot, that cost nine hundred and thirty Pounds, the finest was ever seen. The rabble huzzaed him as much as they did Prince Eugene.'
Anybody with any pretension to wealth and fashion drove six horses, as says Mrs. Plotwell[599]: 'I must have Six Horses in my Coach, four are fit for those that have a Charge of Children, you and I shall never have any;' and Lucinda tells Sir Toby Doubtful[600]: 'You'll at least keep Six Horses Sir Toby, for I wou'd not make a Tour in High Park with less for the World; for me thinks a pair looks like a Hackney.' The coachman, however, did not drive all six, one of the leaders being always ridden by a postilion. These carriage horses were heavy, long-tailed Flemish ones, and naturally went at a sedate and sober trot.
STATE COACH.
It was not everyone that could afford six, or even four, horses, so there were lighter vehicles, as the chariot, the calash, and the chaize or chaise. The latter was adapted for one or two horses, and sometimes was highly ornamented. 'A very fine Chaize, very well Carved, gilded and painted, and lined with blue Velvet, and a very good Horse for it, are to be sold together, or apart &c.—The Horse is also a very good Horse for the Saddle.'
'A very fine pair of young Stone Horses, and a very neat Chaize, well Carved, gilt and painted, and lined with Scarlet, and but little the worse for using to be sold.' 'A Curious 4 Wheel Shaze, Crane Neck'd, little the worse for wearing, it is to be used with one or 2 Horses, and there is a fine Harness for one Horse, and a Reputable Sumpture Laopard Covering.'
The ordinary chaises, however, were much plainer, and they were built strongly, to stand the strain of bad pavements and roads; but it is probable that very few were put to such a severe test as the following: 'At the Greyhound Inn in West Smithfield is to be sold a Two Wheel Chaise, with a Pair of Horses well match'd: It has run over a Bank and a Ditch 5 Foot High; and likewise through a deep Pit within the Ring at Hide Park, in the presence of several Persons of Quality; which are very satisfied it cannot be overturn'd with fair Driving. It is to be Lett for 7s. 6d. a Day, with some Abatement for a longer Time.'
There should be a history attaching to the following advertisement: 'Whereas, upon the 10th of Octob. last, a Gentleman brought a Calash and one Horse, to the Duke of Grafton's Head at Hide Park Corner, and on the 20th of the same Month fetched away the Horse, but left the Calash as a pawn for what was due for the same. If the Owner will come and pay what is due, he may have his Calash again, else it will be appraised and sold in 10 days time.' The innkeeper had waited six months before he advertised.