Formerly, the _remises_ or job-carriages were far inferior to those
in use at the present day; and the old _fiacres_ or hackney-coaches
were infamous. The carriages themselves were filthy; the horses,
wretched; and the coachmen, in tatters, had more the look of beggars
than that of drivers.
Now, not only good hackney-coaches, but chariots and cabriolets
likewise, figure here on the stands; and many of them have an
appearance so creditable that they might even be taken for private
French equipages. The regular stipulated fare of all these vehicles
is at present 30 _sous_ a _course_, and the same for every hour after
the first, which is fixed at 40 _sous_.[1] In 1789, it used to be no
more than 24. For the 30 _sous_, you may drive from one extremity of
Paris to the other, provided you do not stop by the way; for every
voluntary stoppage is reckoned a _course_. However, if you have far
to go, it is better to agree to pay 40 _sous_ per hour, and then you
meet with no contradiction. From midnight to six o'clock in the
morning, the fare is double.
The present expense of a job-carriage, with a good pair of horses,
(including the coachman, who is always paid by the jobman) varies
from 22 to 24 louis a month, according to the price of forage. If you
use your own carriage, the hire of horses and coachman will cost you
from 12 to 15 louis, which, in 1789, was the price of a job-carriage,
all expenses included.
Under the old _régime_, there were no stands of cabriolets.[2] These
carriages are very convenient to persons pressed for time; but it
must be confessed that they are no small annoyance to pedestrians. Of
this Lewis XV was so convinced, that he declared if he were Minister
of the Police, he would suffer no cabriolets in Paris. He thought
this prohibition beneath his own greatness. To obviate, in some
measure, the danger arising both from the want of foot-pavement, and
from the inconsiderate rapidity with which these carriages are not
unfrequently driven, it is now a law that the neck of every horse in
a cabriolet must be provided with bells, and the carriage with two
lamps, lighted after dark; yet, in spite of these precautions, and
the severity which the police exercises against those who transgress
the decree, serious accidents sometimes happen.
Before the revolution, "_gare! gare!_" was the only warning given
here to foot-passengers. The master, in his cabriolet, first drove
over a person, the servant behind then bawled out "_gare!_" and the
maimed pedestrian was left to get up again as he was able. Such
brutal negligence now meets with due chastisement.
At a trial which took place here the other day in a court of justice,
the driver of a cabriolet was condemned to three months imprisonment
in a house of correction, and to pay a fine of 100 francs for maiming
a carter. The horse had no bells, as prescribed by law; and the owner
of the cabriolet was, besides, condemned, in conjunction with the
driver, to pay an indemnification of 3000 francs to the wounded
carter, as being civilly responsible for the conduct of his servant.
Notwithstanding the danger of walking in the streets of Paris, such
French women as are accustomed to go on foot, traverse the most
frequented thoroughfares in the dirtiest weather, at the same time
displaying, to the astonished sight of bespattered foreigners, a
well-turned leg, a graceful step, and spotless stockings.
If you arrive in Paris without a servant, or (what amounts almost to
the same thing) should you bring with you a man ignorant of the
French language, you may be instantly accommodated with one or
several domestics, under the name of