POETE-FLAMEEAUX AND PORTE-LANTEENES 301 



nor carts that carried her bas^o^agfe could 

 possibly arrive, we may conceive how little 

 "Winter travelling there could have been in 

 France. 



Although coaches were already known and 

 used in Paris, they were so unlike the 

 modern vehicles of the same namo that 

 the pleasures, engagements, and assignations 

 of the young men were still pursued on 

 horseback. 



A printed paper is yet extant in the Royal, 

 or rather Republican Library at Paris, announc- 

 ing in all its details to the pubhc the establish- 

 ment by Government of 'porte-flamheaux and 

 porte-lanternes ; persons provided with them 

 were to be posted at the Louvre, the Palais 

 de Justice, and in other public places at 

 Paris. 



These extempore illuminations must have been 

 very necessary in the streets of a great town 

 still frequented by horsemen, where no aid of 

 light was derived either from the doors of 

 private houses or the windows of shops ; the 

 habitual darkness only made more visible from 

 the occasional flambeaux carried before some 

 persons of distinction by their own servants, 

 or accompanying their coach. 



