MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 191 



flowed forth, and descended to the feet, would have made them sufficiently re- 

 markable ; but the effect of this portion of the dress was heightened by the 

 fantastic richness of the rest. They wore no longer, indeed, the arms of their 

 husbands emblazoned on their gowns; nor did their garments, like those of 

 their great grandmothers, in the fashion of the open tunics of the Spartan 

 girls, display their naked sides ; but gold and silver, satin velvet, combined 

 to furnish figures calculated to adorn the festival of the gayest prince in 

 Christendom. Amongst the vast crowd of strange figures and costumes, the 

 knight was surprised to find none belonging to the Hebrew nation. He 

 did not know, or had forgotten, that, although still spreading its branches 

 in other parts of Europe, the tree of Judah was not only cut down in 

 France, but rooted up out of the soil. The Jews, in fact, had been banished 

 so strictly from this most Christian kingdom, by an edict of the last prince, 

 that, if one of them had been found that day among that multitude of his fel- 

 low-creatures, he would, in all probability, have been burnt alive. But, 

 mingling with the peculiarities of the day, the common business of life went 

 on as usual ; and the stranger was almost stunned with the thousand discord- 

 ant noises of a Parisian morning. Every article in daily use, from a roasted 

 goose to a tallow candle, had its crier ; and every crier vied with his neigh- 

 bours as to who should bawl the loudest. The commissioners of the baths 

 were flying about informing the public that their water was hot, and, looking 

 eagerly in the face of the passer by, shouted, ' Make haste ! Make haste !' 

 The venders of wine were clamorously inviting the crowd to taste, the res- 

 taurateurs tempting the appetite with a catalogue of their meats; and > in the 

 midst of all, some men in black issuing from the houses, or at the cross streets, 

 ringing a mournful bell, called upon ail who heard them to pray for the souls 

 of the dead. The number of beggars, especially, was so great, and their end- 

 less litanies so loud, that they might almost be said to give the prevailing cha- 

 racter to the scene. But the common poor who go to and fro upon the earth 

 to this day with artificial wounds and stories of imaginary distress, there 

 were shoals of vagabonds calling themselves Bohemians, distinguished from 

 the rest by their shorn heads so despoiled by the mandate of government. 



" A still greater number of bald crowns belonged to the various orders of 

 mendicant monks ; and these we're further distinguished by the chin as well 

 as the scalp being destitute of hair. The most remarkable of this class were 

 the Jacobins, a colony of Dominicans, so caPed from officiating in the chapel 

 of St. Jacques. One' of these flogged St. Louis to his heart's content in the 

 quality of his confessor ; another assassinated Henri III.; and another canon- 

 ized the assassin : but, notwithstanding this illustrious fortune, they all begged 

 in the streets of Paris. Then came the Cordeliers, so celebrated for their dis- 

 solute manners ; and then the Grands Augustins, the Celestines, the Carthu- 

 sians ; -while, jostled by these bold and libertine monks, some bands of Be- 

 guines and Soeurs Lachettes arrived here, and raised their shrill voices among 

 the crowd. All these, however, were beggars by profession, and excited, 

 therefore, but little of the knight's pity, although they drew some small coins 

 from his pockets. But it was with a start of surprise and concern that he saw 

 mingling with the clamorous crowd, and crying like the others for bread, 

 some students of the university, habited in their black gowns and cowls. This 

 common spectacle appeared extraordinary to him, for the university was asso- 

 ciated in his mind only with ideas of power and grandeur, and the most pro- 

 digious audacity. But this was the university as a body ; this was the rec- 

 tor, the advocates, the regents of the colleges. He had to learn how happily 

 the students united to their clerical character that of the ruffian and the men- 

 dicant. The spirits of the Scot were depressed, as he thought how many high- 

 minded chivalrous adventurers had left and were still leaving his own coun- 

 try, to pursue the path of honour and fortune at this famous seminary ; and 

 in particular a cloud settled upon his brow as he speculated upon the" fate of 

 an early friend whom it was to be his business that evening to seek out in the 

 city of colleges, on the left bank of the river. 



