We may leave the war of the wheels here. The roller-carts were discarded soon afterwards, and M’Adam and his successors rendered for ever such wars unnecessary. But it must not be wholly neglected, and is a tiny chapter by itself in the history of locomotion.
We come to the curiosities.
To this period belongs the present State Coach of Great Britain—that famous “glass-coach” which Londoners had an opportunity of seeing at King George’s Coronation. Who built it is not known. Sir William Chambers, “an amateur,” as Thrupp is careful to point out, designed it in 1761 for George III. “There is come forth,” wrote Walpole to Horace Mann, “a new State Coach which has cost £8000. It is a beautiful object, though crowded with improprieties. Its supports are Tritons, not very well adapted to land carriage, and formed of palm trees, which are as little aquatic as Tritons are terrestrial. The crowd to see it on the opening of Parliament was greater than at the Coronation, and much more damage done.”
The ornamentation of the coach, indeed, is a mass of contradictions, but Sir William Chambers did no more than follow tradition. For over a century the principal State Coaches had had Tritons and other queerly inept figures, and Tritons there were in the new coach for King George. Gorgeousness was aimed at, and gorgeousness obtained. There is a detailed contemporary description of this coach which may be given with an account of the expenditure, not quite £8000 as Walpole writes, which it entailed.
“The carriage is composed of four Tritons, who support the body by cables fastened to the roots of their fins: The two placed on the front of the carriage, bear the driver on their shoulders, and are represented in the action of sounding shells to announce the approach of the monarch of the sea; and those on the back part, carry the imperial fasces, topt with tridents instead of the ancient axes. The driver’s footboard is a large scollop shell, supported by a bunch of reeds, and other marine plants. The pole represents a bundle of lances, and the wheels are imitated from those of the ancient triumphal chariots. The body of the coach is composed of eight palm-trees, which, branching out at the top, sustain the roof. The four angular trees are loaded with trophies, allusive to the victories obtained by Britain during the course of the present glorious war. On the center of the roof stand three boys, representing the Genii of England, Scotland, and Ireland, supporting on their heads the Imperial Crown, and holding in their hands the scepter, the sword of state, and ensigns of knighthood. Their bodies are adorned with festoons of laurel, which fall from thence towards the four corners of the roof. The intervals between the palm-trees which form the body of the coach, are filled in the upper parts with plates of glass, and below with pannels adorned with paintings. On the front pannel is represented BRITANNIA seated on a throne, holding in her hand, a staff of liberty, attended by Religion, Justice, Wisdom, Valour, Fortitude, and Victory, presenting her with a garland of laurels. On the back pannel, Neptune issuing from his palace, drawn by sea-horses, and attended by the Winds, the Rivers, Tritons, Naids, &c., bringing the tribute of the world to the British shore. On one of the doors are represented Mars, Minerva, and Mercury, supporting the Imperial Crown of Britain; and on the other, Industry and Ingenuity, giving a cornucopia to the Genius of England. The other four pannels represent the liberal Arts and Sciences protected; History burning the implements of war. The inside of the coach is lined with Crimson Velvet richly embroidered with gold. All the wood work is triple gilt, and all the paintings highly varnished. The harness is of Crimson Velvet, adorned with buckles and other embelishments of silver gilt; and the saddle-cloths are of Blue Velvet, embroidered and fringed with gold.”
The account was as follows:—
| £ | s. | d. | |
| Coachmaker | 1673 | 15 | 0 |
| Carver | 2500 | 0 | 0 |
| Gilder | 933 | 14 | 0 |
| Painter | 315 | 0 | 0 |
| Laceman | 737 | 10 | 7 |
| Chaser | 665 | 4 | 6 |
| Harnessmaker | 385 | 15 | 0 |
| Mercer | 202 | 5 | 10½ |
| Bitt-maker | 99 | 6 | 6 |
| Millener | 31 | 3 | 4 |
| Sadler | 10 | 16 | 6 |
| Woollen-draper | 4 | 3 | 6 |
| Cover-maker | 3 | 9 | 6 |
| ——————— | |||
| £7562 | 4 | 3½ | |
| ——————— | |||
Hardly less resplendent was the Lord Mayor’s coach which had been built at a cost of over a thousand pounds in 1757, and still performs its duties at stated and regular intervals. It was in 1711 that a Lord Mayor of London had ridden for the last time on horseback in his State procession, this distinction falling to Sir Gilbert Heathcote. Since that date he has been driven in his coach. The 1757 coach was not at first the property of the corporation, but had been built by subscription amongst the aldermen, to whom it belonged until 1778, when the corporation bought it. In that year it had been repaired and repainted—the panels possibly by Cipriani, the heraldic devices by Catton, one of the original members of the Royal Academy and “coach-painter to George III.” The Lord Mayor’s coach, like many other State coaches of this date, is full of allegorical devices of ornamentation, very plutocratic, very rich, very gorgeous, and incidentally rather more comfortable to drive in than that in which the British Sovereign drives to his Coronation.
Coming to lesser matters, we have mention of a carriage which performed a remarkable feat in 1750.