n_; "five o'clock" than _cinq heures_? Is
"boarding-house" any more euphonious than _hotel meuble_, or "tub" than
_bassin_? Scarcely! Nevertheless, the English fashions, especially in
men's garments, continue to enjoy great favor in Paris; and it may be
noted, for the gratification of our national pride, that in some minor
matters, such as shoes and ladies' stockings, the American articles are
to be preferred to the Parisian ones.

All these futile and minor things, _toilettes_, _brimborions_, take on,
a hundred years later, the importance of historic documents. "One would
not go so far as to say," observes M. Bouchot, "that Napoleon was
dethroned because it was found that the _fleur-de-lis_ made an adorable
ornament for a _parure_ of crape, but is it such an absurd idea?" Under
the reign of Louis XVI, it was proposed, more than once, to establish an
_Academie de la Mode_, and an _Academie de la Coiffure_. A certain
_citoyen amateur de sexe_, Lucas Rochemont, invented a concours, or
competition, of new modes among the real _elegantes_ of France. It was
the custom then to put forth small jokes against the Academie, just as
it is now; it was declared that men of letters should renounce it and
all its works, and that it preserved no better the purity of the
language than it did that of taste. Nevertheless, it retained a certain
respect, and the title, _Academie de Coiffure_, with which certain
hair-dressers and wig-makers provided themselves, was forbidden.

The capital had long enjoyed the reputation, says the _Tableau de
Paris_, of being "the paradise of women, the purgatory of men, the
inferno of horses." The purgatory seems to have changed in two respects
at least;--one could live in it then "comfortably enough at small
expense," and the city was "highly indifferent concerning its political
position." The horses were treated cruelly, even more so than at
present, and the familiar jests concerning the fiacres were already
invented. By this name was designated both the driver and his vehicle
drawn "by an expiring horse." The _cochers_ enjoyed the same bad
reputation they do at present--probably somewhat more justly, and they
even went on strike, as in the nineteenth century. On one occasion,
eighteen hundred of them drove out to Choisy, where the king was
residing, to set their griefs before him. The streets were narrow and
without sidewalks; the driver was held responsible only for the
fore-wheels of his vehicle; and h