Phaeton (carriage) The Keystone Cops drove phaetons, either Model Ts or Model As. In Frances Burney's novel, "Evelina" (1778), young gentlemen race their phaetons on the public highways of Clifton, near Bristol, not without incident. In Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", Mr Collins says of Lady Catherine De Bourgh's daughter, "she is perfectly amiable, and often condescends to drive by my humble abode in her little phaeton and ponies." In Anne Brontë's "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" (1848), Mr. Huntingdon drives a "light phaeton" that comes "bowling merrily up the lawn" (Ch. 18). The sporty character of the carriage reflects Huntingdon's devil-may-care
HMS Phaeton (1782) armed with twenty 9-pounder guns and had a crew of 145 men. She had left Rochefort on 4 March in company with the French frigates "Forte", "Seine" and "Régénérée" and the brig "Mutine", all sailing for the Île de France with troops and military supplies. Stopford took her back to England as his prize. The Royal Navy then bought her in as "Bonne Citoyenne", a Sixth Rate sloop of war. While cruising in the Channel, on 6 March 1797, "Phaeton" took the French privateer "Actif". She was armed with 18 guns and had a crew of 120 men. She had