Flying coaches, 1776 and possible interpretation

[Joel S. Berson]

A correspondent cites "flying coaches" (as an amusement at fairs)
from 1776.  Is that early enough to be useful to the OED?  And he
speculates about what Richardson may have been referring to in
"Clarissa".  (For what it's worth, I think he's wrong there -- the
better supposition is a "roundabout" with horses on chains.

>The _Chester Chronicle Or Commercial Intelligencer_ (Thursday, May
>9, 1776) has the following article about the horse racing venue:
>
>On Monday last, during the time of the race, a young woman, servant
>to a farmer in this neighbourhood, had her pocket cut from her side
>by two ill-looking men, it is supposed, who crowded up to her while
>the horses were running; and, by the description given of them, are,
>not improbably, of that vagrant tribe which infest such meetings
>with gaming-tables, flying-coaches, &c. whom our worthy chief
>Magistrate very judiciously prevented from exhibiting their delusive
>practices on the race-grounds, and imposing upon credulous and unwary youth.
>
>This "vagrant tribe" sounds like the caravan sort that Dawn mentions
>as still part of popular entertainment in annual fairs in the
>UK.  The "flying-coaches" here seem to be in the same category as
>gambling equipment. Since Richardson himself rode a "chamber horse"
>to reduce weight, I would suspect that the "flying horses" and
>"flying coaches" were mechanical contraptions used to stimulate
>"unwary youth" like the girls Lovelace and his tribe were fond of seducing.

Joel

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org