The sedan chair was a conveyance that was getting into vogue in Anne's reign. Taking its name from the town of Sedan in France, it was first used in England in 1581, and in London in 1623.
In 1711 an Act (9 Anne, c. 23) was passed licensing 200 public sedan chairs at ten shillings each yearly, and their fare was settled at 1s. per mile. Next year, another Act (10 Anne, c. 19) was passed, licensing 100 more, but keeping the fares unaltered.
Like coaches, their adornment was indicative of the wealth and position of their owners—although, perhaps, none ever came up to Anne's royal present.[602] 'The Queen has made a present of a chair value £8000 to the King of Prussia, which is ordered for Berlin.' Still they were highly ornamental, as the following, which was the property of Sir Joseph Williamson, deceased, will show. 'A Cedan (or Chair) lin'd with Crimson Velvet, trim'd with Gold and Silver, and a new Mourning Chair &c.'
The prefix 'Sedan' was seldom used, and these conveyances were generally termed 'Chairs.' That they were considered somewhat of a novelty in Anne's reign is evidenced by that line of Gay's 'Nor late invented Chairs perplex'd the way,' and also by the fact that then the public chairs were first licensed, and the number, a very small one, regulated.
They were not particularly comfortable, as the Marquis of Hazard describes[603]: 'Hey, let my three Footmen wait with my Chair there—the Rascals have come such a high trot—they've jolted me worse than a Hackney Coach—and I am in as much disorder as if I had not been drest to day.' And they were sometimes dangerous too.
Or, box'd within the Chair, contemn the Street,
And trust their Safety to another's Feet.
.......
The drunken Chairman in the Kennel Spurns,
The Glasses shatters, and his Charge o'erturns.
Gay evidently did not like either chairs or chairmen, for he warns his reader thus:—
Let not the Chairman with assuming Stride,
Press near the Wall, and rudely thrust thy Side:
The Laws have set him Bounds; his servile Feet
Should ne'er encroach where Posts defend the Street.
Yet who the Footman's Arrogance can quell,
Whose Flambeau gilds the Sashes of Pell Mell?
When in long Rank a Train of Torches flame,
To light the Midnight Visits of the Dame?
Others, perhaps, by happier Guidance led,
May where the Chairman rests, with Safety tread;
When e'er I pass, their Poles, unseen below,
Make my Knee tremble with the jarring Blow.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE MOHOCKS.
Scourers, etc. — Bully Dawson — Two outbreaks — That in 1712 — Hawkubites — Exploits of the Mohocks — Sir Roger de Coverley — Swift's fear of them — Emperor of the Mohocks — Gog and Magog — The Queen's proclamation — Decline of the scare — Constables and watchmen.