What we knew, or our forefathers knew, as the "_poste-chaise_," properly "_chaise de poste_," came in under the Restoration. All the world knows, or should know, Edouard Thierry's picturesque description of it. "_Le rêve de nos vingt ans, la voiture où l'on n'est que deux ... devant vous le chemin libre, la plaine, la pente rapide, le pont._" "You traverse cities and hamlets without number, by the _grands rues_, the _grande place_, etc." In April, 1837, Stendhal quitted Paris under exactly these conditions for his tour of France. He bought "_une bonne calèche_," and left _via_ Fontainebleau, Montargis, and Cosne. Two months after, however, he returned to the metropolis _via_ Bourges, having refused to continue his journey _en calèche_, preferring the "_malle-poste_" and the _diligence_ of his youth. Public _diligences_, however, had but limited accommodation on grand occasions; Victor Hugo, who had been invited to the consecration of Charles X. at Reims, and his friend, Charles Nodier, the bibliophile,--also a friend of Dumas, it is recalled,--in company with two others, made the attempt amid much discomfort in a private carriage,--of a sort,--and Nodier wittily tells of how he and Hugo walked on foot up all the hills, each carrying his gripsack as well. More than all others the "Coches d'Eau" are especially characteristic of Paris; those fly-boats, whose successors ply up and down the Seine, to the joy of Americans, the convenience of the Parisian public, and--it is surely allowable to say it--the disgust of Londoners, now that their aged and decrepit "Thames steamboats" are no more. These early Parisian "Coches d'Eau" carried passengers up and down river for surprisingly low fares, and left the city at seven in the morning in summer, and eight in winter. The following is a list of the most important routes: Paris--Nogent-sur-Seine 2 days en route Paris--Briare 3 " " " Paris--Montereau 1 " " " Paris--Sens 2 " " " Paris--Auxerre 4 " " " All of these services catered for passengers and goods, and were, if not rapid, certainly a popular and comfortable means of communication. An even more popular journey, and one which partook more particularly of a pleasure-trip, was that of the _galiote_, which left each day from below the Pont-Royal for St. Cloud, giving a day's outing by river which to-day, even, is the most fascinating of the many _petits voyages_ to be undertaken around Paris. The other recognized public means of communication between the metropolis and the provincial towns and cities were the "Messageries Royales," and two other similar companies, "La Compagne Lafitte et Caillard" and "Les Françaises."