A curricle was a smart, light, two-wheeled chaise or "chariot", large enough for the driver and a passenger and—most unusually for a vehicle with a single axle—usually drawn by a carefully matched pair of horses. It was popular in the early 19th century; its name—from the Latin curriculum, meaning "running", "racecourse" or "chariot"[1]—is the equivalent of a "runabout", and it was a rig suitable for a smart young man who liked to drive himself, at a canter. The French adopted the English-sounding term Шаблон:Lang-fr for such vehicles. The lightweight swept body with just the lightest dashboard hung with a pair of lamps was hung from a pair of outsized swan-neck leaf springs at the rear. For a grand show in the Bois de Boulogne or along the seafront at Honfleur, two liveried mounted grooms might follow.[2]
Curricles were notorious for the accidents their drivers suffered.[3] The danger involved led to cheaper and safer phaetons and cabriolets replacing curricles.[4]
↑R v Pigott and Crampton, 1828. Macquarie Law: Decisions of the Superior Courts of New South Wales, 1788-1899. A child is run over by two gentlemen in a curricle.
