The fiacre was, in France, a small four-wheeled carriage or hackney-coach, so called from the Hotel St Fiacre, where Sauvage, the inventor of these carriages, established in 1640 an office for the hire of them. Research Fiacre
Cinderella is a fairy story about an abused scullery girl who lives with her wicked step-mother and two ugly step-sisters; who is invited to a royal ball, provided with a temporary enchantment of rich costume and coach and horses by a fairy god mother, while at the ball dances with the prince who falls in love with her, but leaving quickly before the enchantment wears off she leaves behind one of her slippers. The prince then endeavours to locate his love, which he does by having the girls of the neighbourhood try on the slipper until he finds the one girl the slipper fits. In English the slipper is referred to as a glassslipper, but this is a mistake in the story's translation. It should actually be a sableslipper, which were only worn by royalty - hence the fairy god mother gave the heroine of the story a pair of royal slippers to wear. Research Cinderella
The term coach is now generally applied to a chartered or long distance, usually single-decker bus. However, traditionally coach was a general name for all covered carriages drawn by horses and intended for the rapid conveyance of passengers.
The earliest carriages appear to have been all open, if we may judge from the figures of Assyrian and Babylonian chariots found on the monuments discovered amidst the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, At Rome both covered and uncovered carriages were in use. After the fall of the Roman Empire they went out of use again, and during the feudal ages the custom was to ride on horseback, the use of carriages being considered effeminate. They do not appear to have become common until the 10th century, and even then were regarded exclusively as vehicles for women and invalids. Later on they became, especially in Germany, part of the appendages of royalty.
Coaches seem to have been introduced into England about the middle of the 16th century, but were for long confined to the aristocracy and the wealthy classes. Hackney-coaches were first used in London in 1625. They were then only twenty in number, and were kept at the hotels, where they had to be applied for when wanted. In 1634 coaches waiting to be hired at a particular stand were introduced, and had increased to 200 in 1652, to 800 in 1710, and to 1000 in 1771.
Stagecoaches were introduced into England about the same time as hackney-coaches. The first stage-coach in London appears to have ran early in the 17th century, and before the end of the century they were started on three of the principal roads in England. Their speed was at first very moderate, about 3 or 4 miles an hour. They could only run in the summer, and even then their progress was often greatly hindered by floods and by the wretched state of the roads generally. In 1700 it took a week to travel from York to London; in 1754 a body of Manchester merchants started a conveyance, the Flying Coach, of an improved kind, which did the journey to London in the unusually short period of four days and a half, and thirty years later a Mr. Palmer of Bath, after a considerable amount of opposition, succeeded in inducing the government to put in practice certain suggestions which he made, by which he showed that great saving both of time and money in the conveyance of passengers and letters would be effected. The result was the establishment of the system of mail-coaches, which continued to be the means of travelling in England until their place was taken by the railways. The first mail-coach started between London and Bristol on the 8th of August, 1784. The manufacture of elegant carriages was a proof of much wealth and mechanical skill in a place, many different workmen being employed in their construction, and both the materials and the workmanship requiring to be of the best. British-built carriages, especially those made in London, held the first place for a combination of strength and elegance. Research Coach
A coupe was a small four-wheeled closed carriage for two persons, carrying a driver outside. The term has come to also describe a motor car with a single-compartment body containing two or three seats or a half-compartment in a railwaycoach. Research Coupe
A diligence was a French stage-coach. It was the national vehicle on the regular routes; had four wheels, two compartments, a deck, and a dickey; and was drawn by from four to seven horses. Research Diligence
Dillies were stagecoaches first run in Britain in 1770. Their name derived from the French diligence, a four-wheeled stage coach drawn by four or more horses and common in France at the time. Research Dilly
A duel (from the Latin duellum) is a single combat following on a challenge, for the purpose of deciding some private difference or quarrel, and conducted according to the regulations of the code of honour. The combat generally takes place in the presence of witnesses called seconds, who make arrangements as to the mode of fighting, place the weapons in the hands of the combatants, and see that the laws they have laid down are carried out. The origin of the practice may probably be traced to the judicial combats of the northern tribes who overthrew the Roman power. Possessing no well-defined system of jurisprudence, they refereed the settlement of all disputes to an appeal to arms, invoking the deity to defend the right.
Duelling took hold early in France, and it is calculated that 6000 persons fell in duels during ten years of the reign of Henry IV. His minister, Sully, remonstrated against the practice; but the king connived at it, supposing that it tended to maintain a military spirit among his people. In 1602, however, he issued a decree against it, and declared it to be punishable with death. Many subsequent prohibitions were issued, but they were all powerless to stop the practice. During the minority of Louis XIV. more than 4000 nobles are said to have lost their lives in duels.
Duelling with small swords was introduced into England in 1587 from France. The first recorded English duel took place in 1096 between Williamcount of Eu and Godfrey Baynard. Duelling has always been illegal in England, with the issue of a challenge seen as a breach of the peace and the killing of an opponent as murder or manslaughter, with the charge raised against the survivor and the seconds. Notable duels include: Between the duke of Hamilton and lord Mohun which was fought with small swords in Hyde Park on the 15th of November 1712. Lord Mohun was killed on the spot and the duke died of his wounds as he was being carried to his coach. On the 8th of June 1807 a Mr Alcock killed a Mr Colcough and went mad as a result. On the 21st of March 1829 the Duke of Wellington and the earl of Winchelsea duelled with no injury, indeed the duel was a farce with both parties firing into the air. Research Duel
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Fiacre
