am-propelled stage
coaches were made by Sir Goldsworth Gurney. These machines were the
precursors of the latter-day automobile vehicle. This account of a ride in
the Gurney stage coach was published by the "United Service Journal":

[Sidenote: A contemporary description]

"We numbered four in a coach attached to the steam carriage, and we had
travelled without difficulty or mishap as far as Longford, where they were
repairing the bridge over the Cambria. On this was a large pile of bricks,
so high as to conceal what was happening on the other side. Precisely at
the moment we began to cross the bridge the mail-coach from Bath arrived on
the other end. As soon as we perceived it we shouted to the driver to take
care; but, as he was not aware of the extraordinary vehicle he was going
to meet, he did not slacken speed. To avoid a collision, Mr. Gurney guided
our steam carriage into the pile of bricks. Some damage to our apparatus
resulted, but was repaired in less than a quarter of an hour. As to the
horses of the coach, they had taken the bit between their teeth and had to
be cut loose.

"Upon our arrival at Melksham, we found that there was a fair in progress,
and the streets were full of people. Mr. Gurney made the carriages travel
as slowly as possible, in order to injure no one. Unfortunately, in that
town the lower classes are strongly opposed to the new method of
transportation. Excited by the postilions, who imagined that the adoption
of Mr. Gurney's steam carriage would compromise their means of livelihood,
the multitude that encumbered the streets arose against us, heaped us with
insults, and attacked us with stones. The chief engineer and another man
were seriously injured. Mr. Gurney feared we could not pursue our journey,
as two of his best mechanics had need of surgical aid. He turned the
carriage into the court of a brewer named Ales, and during the night it was
guarded by constables."

[Sidenote: Jobard]

[Sidenote: Jobard's impressions]

To have assisted at the experiment of Gurney's steam carriage was, in those
days, almost a title to glory. These carriages became speedily one of the
curiosities of London. Foreign travellers who printed accounts of their
journeys, did not fail to devote a chapter to the new means of locomotion.
Jobard, the Belgian savant and economist, was of the number, and so were
Cuchette, St. Germain Leduc and C.G. Simon, three prominent scientific
writers of that time. Jobard's