At first, of course, there was opposition.
“Every new thing the People disaffect,” wrote Arthur Wilson, the historian, “They stumble sometimes, at the _action_ for the _person_, which rises like a little _cloud_ but soon after vanishes. So after, when _Buckingham_ came to be carried upon Men’s shoulders the _clamour_ and the _noise_ of it was so extravagant that the People would rail on him in the Streets, loathing that Men should be brought to as servile a condition as Horses. So irksome is every little new impression that breaks an old _Custom_ and rubs and grates against the _public humour_. But when Time had made these Chairs common, every loose _Minion_ used them, so that that which got at first so much scandal was the means to convey those privately to such places where they might give much more. Just like _long hair_, at one time described as abominable, at another time approved as beautiful. So various are the _fancies_ of the _times_!”
It is to be noticed that Buckingham, according to this account, was carried upon men’s shoulders. This was the case at first, but such a mode was speedily changed for that of hand-poles—at once safer and more comfortable for the occupant, and certainly more convenient for the men.[23]
John Evelyn disagrees with Wilson and ascribes the introduction of the chair into England to Sir Saunders Duncombe, a Gentleman-Pensioner knighted by James I in Scotland in 1617, who enjoyed Buckingham’s patronage. In his Diary for 1645, he writes of the Neapolitans: “They greatly affect the Spanish gravity in their habit; delight in good horses; the streets are full of gallants on horseback, in coaches and sedans, from hence brought first into England by Sir Saunders Duncombe.” Undoubtedly Duncombe was responsible for the great popularity of the chair in England, and for a time held a monopoly in such chairs as could be had for hire, but it may be that Buckingham suggested this monopoly in the first place, after the temporary opposition to their use had been overcome. Which rather suggests that Spain was actually the first country where they were used, though this is mere conjecture.
In the meantime much was happening to the coaches. They were increasing enormously in number, not only those privately owned, but also those hired out by the day. These latter soon became known as hackney-coaches.[24] They seem to have been put on the streets as early as 1605, but “remained in the owner’s yards until sent for.” In 1633 the Strand was chosen as the first regular stand for such coaches by a Captain Bailey, one of the pioneers of the movement.