194 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



thousand livres for the exclusive privilege of keeping 

 coaches for hire within the city of Paris ; this occurred 

 in about the year 1655. Shortly after this hackney- 

 coaches were kept standing at certain places in different 

 streets, to go from one part of the city to another. A 

 full history of the Parisian Jiacres, and the orders 

 respecting them, may be seen in " Continuation du 

 Traite de la Police, Paris, 1738," fol, p. 435 ; and also, 

 " Hist, de la Ville de Paris, par Sauval," vol. i., p. 192. 



When in 1823, cabriolets were introduced first into 

 the streets of London as vehicles for hire, they differed 

 from the fashionable cabriolet, afterwards driven by 

 gentlemen, behind which a little groom, called a tiger, 

 stood upright and hung on, insomuch as the driver of 

 the hired cabriolet or cab sat beside his fare ; this being 

 the case they did not resemble a private cabriolet, but 

 were in almost every particular identical with the 

 hooded Stanhope gig, since the two passengers sat 

 side by side. The carriage possessed a leather hood, 

 and had no other seat. 



Hackney-coaches were first introduced into France 

 in the year 1650, by one Nicolas Sauvage, who lived 

 in a house called the Hotel St. Fiacre, from which 

 circumstance all hired carriages came to be called 

 Jiacres, although eventually the name was restricted 

 to such as were stationed for hire in the streets. 



It should be observed, however, that in ancient 

 Rome there were carriages let out for hire which 

 Suetonius called rheda mei^itoria and 7iieritoria vehicula. 



It was in the year 1625 that hackney-carriages first 

 began to ply for hire in the streets of London, and 

 sometimes at the inns, to be called for as they were 

 wanted. At the first they were only tw^enty in number. 

 In 1634, sedan-chairs appear for the first time to have 



