of him a serving maid, with additional bandboxes, _et divers effets
de sa maitresse_. At the next stage the postilions have to be beat
up: they came out swearing. Cloaks and fur-pelisses avail little
against the January cold; 'time and hours' are the only hope. But
lo! at the tenth mile, this Tyburn coach breaks down. One
many-voiced discordant wail shrieks through the solitude, making
night hideous--but in vain: the axle-tree has given way; the vehicle
has overset, and marchionesses, chamber-maids, bandboxes, and
philosophers are weltering in inextricable chaos. The carriage was
in the stage next Nangis, about half-way to that town, when the hind
axle-tree broke, and it tumbled on the road to M. de Voltaire's side.
Madame du Chatelet and her maid fell above him, with all their
bundles and bandboxes, for these were not tied to the front but only
piled up on both hands of the maid; and so, observing the law of
gravitation and equilibrium of bodies, they rushed toward the corner
where M. de Voltaire lay squeezed together. Under so many burdens,
which half-suffocated him, he kept shouting bitterly; but it was
impossible to change place; all had to remain as it was till the two
lackeys, one of whom was hurt by the fall, could come up, with the
postilions, to disencumber the vehicle; they first drew out all the
luggage, next the women, and then M. de Voltaire. Nothing could be
got out except by the top, that is, by the coach-door, which now
opened upwards. One of the lackeys and a postilion, clambering aloft
and fixing themselves on the body of the vehicle, drew them up as
from a well, seizing the first limb that came to hand, whether arm or
leg, and then passed them down to the two stationed below, who set
them firmly on the ground."

It was not entirely for state or distinction of ranks that noblemen of
yore were attended on their journeys by running footmen. A few
supernumerary hands were needed in case of accidents on the road. A box
of carpenters' tools formed an indispensable part of the baggage, and the
accompanying lackeys were skilful in handling them, as well as in
replacing the cast shoes of the horses, for many districts would not
afford a Wayland Smith. The state of travelling was doubtless increased
by these 'cursive appendages, bearing white wands, and decked in the gay
liveries of the house