uaintance with the streets of Paris can,
if he likes, purchase a vehicle of the regulation style, have his number
painted on it and set up for himself as a public cabman, subject always
in the matter of pace, charges, etc. to the police laws regulating all
such details.

It has taken two hundred and thirty years to bring the cab-system of
Paris to the point of perfection to which it has now attained. In 1617
the only public means of locomotion was afforded by a company which let
out sedan-chairs. In 1640 a certain Nicholas Sauvage, agent for the
stage-coaches of Amiens, formed the plan of establishing carriages,
harnessed and ready for use at certain designated points, for the
accommodation of the public. These vehicles were christened _fiacres_,
but the reason for their receiving this appellation remains unknown.
Some say it was because Sauvage occupied a house the facade of which was
decorated with an image of St. Fiacre: another and more probable
solution of the mystery has been found in the fact that just at that
epoch a monk of the Petits Peres, called Fiacre, died in the odor of
sanctity, and his portrait was placed in all the new vehicles to protect
them against accidents. Be this as it may, the new enterprise proved
successful, and in 1703 a law was passed compelling the numbering of all
public carriages. In 1753 there existed in Paris twenty-eight cab-stands
and sixty livery-stables, containing in all one hundred and seventy
carriages. At present, Paris possesses over eight thousand cabs and
three thousand livery-stable carriages: these last are generally very
handsome vehicles, drawn by spirited, well-kept horses and driven by
stylish-looking coachmen. The public vehicles of Paris, exclusive of
the omnibuses, may be divided into three classes. First, the _voitures
de place_, which are permitted, on payment of an annual tax of three
hundred and sixty-five francs, to stand at one of the one hundred and
fifty-eight points designated by the police; these bear a yellow number.
Secondly, the _voitures mixtes_, which may at will be hired from a
livery-stable or stand or ply upon the public highway; these bear a red
number. And thirdly, the _voitures de remise_, which can only be hired
from a stable, and are prohibited from appearing on the stands; these
also are numbered in red, but in a particular style, so that a policeman
at a glance can distinguish the difference between the voitures mixtes
and those of the last