of the hoods of victorias and other such
carriages, and the opening and closing of landaus, there are now many
automatic contrivances, of which the simplest are the most to be
preferred. The quarter-light or five-glass landau is a carriage which
has been greatly improved. The complicated adjustments of pillars,
windows and roof have been replaced by one simple parallel movement. The
first public exhibition of a finished carriage on this principle was by
an English firm at the Paris Exhibition of 1876 (fig. 4).

In the matter of style certain types of carriages have passed through
marked changes. Extreme lightness was at one time considered by many the
one desideratum both as to appearance and actual weight, in providing
which ease of movement and comfortable seating of the occupants became
secondary considerations--though to these extremes builders of repute
were always opposed. Still, when at the International Exhibition of
Paris 1889, it was seen that the Parisian builders had suddenly gone in
the opposite direction, the world of fashion in carriages was taken by
surprise. From being built upon easy, flowing, graceful lines, it was
seen, with some revulsion of feeling, that these were to be displaced by
the deep, full-bodied victoria, brougham and landau. Only by slow
degrees did this characteristic find acceptance with English
connoisseurs, and then only in a modified form, though eventually in a
greater or less degree it is now the prevailing style.

[Illustration: FIG. 4.]

While the better types of English carriages are still preeminent in
their constructive qualities, and represent the well-known
characteristics of individual firms, some emulation may be excited by
the elegant taste and careful workmanship which French builders display
in points of finish, both internally and externally. Of the various
types of carriages now in vogue, the victoria, in its many varieties of
form, is the most popular, accompanied, as of necessity, by the double
victoria, sociable, brougham, landaulet and landau. Four-in-hand coaches
for private use, as well as the "road" coaches, are built on a smaller
scale than formerly; 6 ft. 8 in. may now be taken as the standard height
of the roof from the ground. Owing to the encouragement given by the
Four-in-hand and Coaching Clubs, the ascendancy of this style of driving
is still preserved to Great Britain; and in association with it the
char-a-banc, mail phaeton, wagonette, and four-wh