The Approaches to Paris--The French Railway System--The St. Germain Railway--The Erection of the Barriers--Some of the most famous Barriers--Parisian Crime--Its Special Characteristics.....317 CHAPTER XLV. PARISIAN MENDICANCY--THE PARIS POOR. Parisian Mendicancy in the Sixteenth Century--The General Hospital--Louis XV. and the Beggars--The Revolution--Mendicancy as a Regular Profession--The Organ-grinders and the Trade in Italian Children--The French Treatment of the Poor--Asylums, Almshouses, and Retreats--The _Droit des Pauvres_--The Cost of the Poor.....324 CHAPTER XLVI. VERSAILLES. Derivation of the Name--Saint-Simon’s Description--Louis XIV.--The Grand Fête of July, 1668--Peter the Great and the Regent--Louis XV.--Marie Antoinette and the “Affair of the Necklace”--The Events of October, 1789.....338 CHAPTER XLVII. VERSAILLES AND THE SIEGE OF PARIS. The Advance on Paris--Preparations for the Siege--General Trochu--The Francs-Tireurs--The Siege.....348 CHAPTER XLVIII. VERSAILLES AND THE COMMUNE. The Communists or Communards--The “Internationale”--Bismarck and the National Guard--The Municipal Elections--The Insurrection--Thiers--Paris during the Commune--Concluding Remarks.....355 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE On the Champs Élysées _Frontispiece_ Outside a Railway Station in Paris 1 Waiting for a Fare 3 Omnibus Coachman 4 Private Coachman 4 Hackney Coachman 5 Hearse Coachman 5 An Invitation to a “Petit Verre” 6 Street Scene 8 In the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne at Night 9 In the Flower Market 13 After the Theatre 16 At the Salon 17 A Fair 21 A Café Chantant 24 Parisian Types--In the Barracks 25 Parisian Types--In Search of Cigar-ends 29 A Paris Omnibus 31 Street Scene 32 Eastern End of Île de la Cité _facing_ 33 Austerlitz Bridge 35 On the Saint-Martin Canal 36