448 
PARIS. 
morning till midnight. They are in every refpeft much 
better regulated than thofe of London. The coaches 
and horfes are good, and the drivers civil and honeft. 
The numbers are painted on each fide of the coach, and 
on the back, in large and legible charafters ; but this is 
not all ; they are all'o painted on tin, and nailed up infide 
the vehicle in two or three places ; an example worthy 
of being followed in England. The fares are regulated 
by the police, and are for a cabriolet a5 fous for the courfe; 
that is, for every time the vehicle is flopped. If taken 
by time, the price is 30 fous (is. 3d.) for the firft hour, 
and 25 for every following one. For a coach (fiacre) the 
price is 30 fous per courfe, or 2 francs (is. 8d.) for the 
firft hour, and 30 fous for the others: but the price is 
double, if the coach be taken after midnight. It is ufual 
to give the coachman fome money for drink, but he.can- 
not demand it. There are in Paris about 2800 fiacres and 
4000 cabriolets. The cabriolets are fingle-horfe chaifes 
with a head conftantly up. They contain two perfons 
and the driver: are exceedingly convenient, and have 
the numbers painted in the fame confpicuous way as on 
the fiacre. The firft hackney-coaches were eftablilhed at 
a houfe in the rue St. Antoine, which had for its fign the 
image of St. Fiacre, whence the name. 
The traveller fliould be informed that the regulations 
refpefting the fare extend only to the barriers ; and that, 
fliould he prolong his drive beyond them, he will be com¬ 
pletely at the mercy of the driver, unlefs he has previoufly 
made a fpecific agreement with him. 
Other cabriolets, and carriages of various deferiptions, 
ftand in different parts of Paris, and carry pafiengers to 
the villages in the environs. There is no fixed price, but 
the competition keeps it fufficiently moderate. On fefti- 
vals, however, advantage is taken of the eagernefs of the 
Parifians, and the fare is confiderably enhanced. 
There are alfo paffage-boats, which depart every hour for 
Meudon, Sevres, and St. Cloud. A boat likewife ftarts 
every 'day for St. Cloud, from the foot of the Pont Royal. 
The paflage occupies about two hours; the company is 
ufually above the lower clafs; and the feenery of the river 
is delightful. The fare is 16 fols. The watermen are 
forbidden to take more than fixteen perfons. 
At all hours of the night perfons are feen in the ftreets 
of Paris with torches or lanterns: thefeare called /allots ; 
and are regularly appointed and paid by the police. Their 
principal office is to obferve the actions of l'ufpedled per¬ 
fons ; and they deliver a faithful bulletin, in the morn¬ 
ing, of every thing that has taken place during the 
night. To the ftranger they offer material affiftance. If 
he fliould have loft his way at night, when no fiacres are 
on the ftands, he may confidently commit himfelf to the 
care of one of thefe men, who, for a trifling gratuity, will 
conduct him theneareft way to his hotel. Hefhould, how¬ 
ever, be careful that there is nothing fufpicious in his ap¬ 
pearance or manner ; for immediate intelligence of the 
hotel to which he has been conduced will be given to 
the police, and he may poffibly be roufed by a domicili¬ 
ary vifit before morning. 
The foil on which the city of Paris ftands is various. 
On the fouth of the river it is calcareous free-ftone, fre¬ 
quently intermixed with fliells; while on the north, as 
far as the ftreets that rife in the fkirts of Mont Martre, 
it confifts of alluvial fand to a confiderable depth, fol¬ 
lowed by the gypfum of Mont Martre. “ It is,” fays 
Mr. Pinkerton, “a well-known Angularity in geology, 
that the banks of the rivers are often compofed of dif¬ 
ferent fubftances, owing, probably, to fome natural in¬ 
coherence, which afforded an eafier courfe for the water 
to penetrate.” The foffil bones found at Mont Martre 
are, by Cuvier, fuppofed to belong univerfally to different 
fpecies and fizes of an animal now extinfit, but approach¬ 
ing neareft to the tapir of America; and the fea-fhells, 
fome of them unknown at prefent in the Atlantic, difeo- 
vered at Grignon, to the weft of Verfailles, in a bed of 
fand under a layer of folid lime ftone, indicate changes irt 
the globe which it is impoffible to account for. 
The climate of Paris differs from that of London in the 
fuperior heat of the fummer, which matures the grape in. 
the open vineyard, a circumftance totally unknown in Eng¬ 
land. The general warmth of the year is much the fame 
at Paris as at London, the fuperior cold of the winter ba¬ 
lancing the heat of the fummer. In the winter of 1802-3, 
the river Seine was frozen over during a fortnight, and the 
cold was intenfe. Pinkerton fays, that he always thought 
that the environs of Mont Martre were colder than any 
other part of Paris, not only from the greater height of the 
fituation, but from the proverbially cold nature of the ala- 
bafter. The clearnefs of the air is a circumftance very 
ftriking to a perfon who, after a long refidence at Paris, re¬ 
turns to London. While the latter is enveloped in clouds 
of fmoke, none is perceivable at the former, except at the 
moment of lighting the fires in the morning ; and a fpec- 
tator from a neighbouring eminence is dazzled with the 
white fplendour of the houfes and towers. The Parifians 
have an univerfal prejudice again!! the ufe of coal, which 
they conceive to be very unhealthy, and hurtful to the 
lungs. The fmoke of wood, though more prejudicial to 
the furniture, the colour of which it foon changes, is yet 
fcarcely vifible in the open air, while that of coal blackens 
the furrounding obje< 5 !s, as appears but too certainly from 
the dark hue of our London churches and other ftone 
buildings. The Parifian edifices, on the contrary, are of 
fuch dazzling whitenefs, that in the fummer the eye is 
fatigued, and feeks for the repofe of fome milder colour. 
It has often been made a queftion, whether Paris or 
London is to be reckoned the finer city; according, how¬ 
ever, to a well-informed.traveller, London is laid to be the 
more impofing to the eye as a whole, but Paris will better 
beardifle&ion. The wide ftreets and broad foot-pavements 
in London give a general impreffion of grandeur, but the 
public buildings that can be noticed as really fine ones 
are few. At Paris, while the city does not give an im¬ 
preffion of grandeur as a whole, the objefts which, taking 
it in detail, claim particular attention, are grand and nu¬ 
merous. 
Mr.,Safs is very eloquent on this fubjeft: “ There is no 
modern city,” fays he, “ that can boaft of fuch a fucceffion 
of magnificent fquares, ftreets, and buildings, as Paris. 
Beginning with the Palais Royal, you crofs the Rue St. 
Honore to the Palais des Arts et des Sciences; whence, 
you pafs through the Place de Caroufel, to the triumphal 
Arch of Bonaparte, on which were placed the bronze 
horfes now at Venice. Going through the centre of the 
Tuileries, you enter upon the gardens, adorned with fra- 
tues, fountains, walks,&c. On the right of the gardens is 
the Place Vendome, with the Column Napoleon ; on the 
left the Seine, whofe ftream flows flowly on, lingering as 
if it regretted leaving fo delightful a place. Still advan¬ 
cing, you arrive at the Place de la Concorde; a magnifi¬ 
cent range of buildings is feen on the right; the Champs 
Elyfees in front, and on the left the fine Pont de la Con¬ 
corde. Croffing the bridge, you find yourfelf oppofite 
the beautiful palace of the Corps Legiflatif, behind which 
is l’Hopital des Invalides, and near it i’Ecole Militaire. 
The next grand obje£l which prefents itfelf is the Champ 
de Mars, at the further end of which is the claffical Pont 
de Jena. On the oppofite fide was to have been the pa¬ 
lace of the King of Rome, for which an immenfe fpace 
had been cleared ; nothing, however, except the founda¬ 
tion, is vifible. All thefe places form an unbroken feene 
of magnificence and grandeur. Diftributed about the 
Fauxbourgs St. Germain and St.Marceau, are otherobjefits 
equally interefting. Such are the Mufee des Petits Au- 
gutlins, Luxembourg Palace and Gardens, St. Sulfpice, 
the noble and elegant pile of the Pantheon, the Cata¬ 
combs, the Obfervatory, the Gobelin tapeftry, and the 
Jardin des Plantes. Croffing the iron bridge of Aufter- 
litz, you arrive at the foundations of the Hail of Abun- 
4 dance, 
